A Day to Remember
by Black-Tiger2
Summary: Three of our favorite characters witness a crime, but only one of them knows what really happened. See how each of them reflects on the day that should change their lives forever.
1. The Lover's Story

A/N: So here's my first (posted) fanfic. It's a little experiment with different POV's . For all of you who have read Akutagawa Ryonosuke's 'Rashomon', you know how this works. For the others, well, read and see. ^_^  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the RE characters. Just love to use them for my stories..  
A Day to Remember  
The Lover's Story  
  
The officers in their blue uniforms, standing out against the sea of white flowers, respectfully saluting to one of their own for the last time, the low music carried away by a gentle spring breeze, towards a slowly setting sun, bathing the sorrowful faces of those present in a warm light. It's all so beautiful, so romantic in a way and I'm sure this is how he would have wanted it to be. Without the shadow of a doubt this is the most moving funeral I ever attended and at the same time it's the one thing I wish I would never have to witness. As they lower the casket to it's final resting place, the girl is burying her face deeper into my side, her tears soaking my black dress and I pull her closer yet, not only to comfort her, but also to comfort myself. I wish I could have seen her again under different circumstances, but I am glad that she is here, if only for a while. He had meant so much to her, to both of us, that I feel, if anyone could ever relate to what is going on inside of me right now, then it's Sherry. Of course there is my brother, there is always Chris, offering me his shoulder to cry on, stretching out his helping hand unconditionally, catching me when I fall. When he talks to me, he claims to understand what I feel, since he too has lost someone and not for the first time, but he can't deny that my loss is a different one. That my pain is so much deeper than he could ever imagine. To him, Leon was a friend, maybe even his best friend. To me, he was so much more than that. He was my lover, my soul mate, the father of our unborn child. I still can't believe that he is gone. Forever. That I will never again wake up to the sound of his soothing voice when he tells me he loves me before he leaves for work. Never again drown in those crystal blue eyes when he leans over me, kissing me good night. Never again will I feel the gentle touch of his hands caressing my body, pulling me closer into his arms, holding me like nothing in the world could ever bring us apart. I am trying to be strong. For Sherry's sake, for my own sake, but the sound of her small voice, weeping ever so softly against my chest, her fragile body clinging to mine for support, breaks my will and the first tear trails down my cheek. "How are you holding up, Claire? You wanna leave?" I shake my head as Chris puts his hand on my shoulder, forcing me to look at him. "Are you sure? Nobody's gonna blame you if you can't put up with this anymore." His eyes, full of concern and sympathy are resting on my face, waiting for an answer. I will myself to nod, tears running freely now and then I can't hold it back any longer. "I miss him so much, Chris. How am I supposed to live without him?" I fall into Chris's open arms, trembling uncontrollably as I sob into his chest. "It's so unfair! How could this happen? How could he just get shot? Right there, in front of everybody?" "I wish I knew, Claire. I wish I knew." He says, running his hand through my tangled hair. It's the same old question, I have asked him over and over again ever since that horrible day that I had to watch Leon, the love of my life, die.  
  
I couldn't have been happier as I left the doctors office, hopping down the last two steps outside the main entrance of the hospital, before I stopped in the middle of the neatly kept driveway to take another look at the printout in my hand. I squinted at the black and grey shadows mingling into each other, within the cone like shape on the slick paper. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't see it! It took me almost a full minute to realise that I was holding it upside down. Frowning at my own stupidity, I quickly turned it around. It had changed the perspective alright, yet in no way did it help me to find what I was so desperately searching for. No matter how many times the doctor had patiently explained it to me, pointing out every detail of the ultrasound scan, I couldn't make sense of this mess. That however, wasn't going to have any negative effects on my being in a fantastic mood. It would take a lot more than a distorted first baby picture to ruin my day. "Boy or girl?" Startled by the unannounced question, I spun around standing face to face with a heavy set, middle-aged woman, wearing a big grin on her flashy cheeks. "You can actually see it?" I blurted out in surprise. Her grin elongated into a smile, squeezing her piggy eyes even closer. "Honey, I gave birth to six children in my time. I read them things like a newspaper." "Well, it's a boy. I just found out today." I had secretly been hoping for a girl. Ever since Sherry had left to live with her relatives in California, I missed having another girl around the house. "My first one was a boy too. 8 pounds. Big guy. Still is." Her face wobbled as she let out a short laugh. "Did you tell the father yet?" she asked. "There is a father, isn't there?" "I'm about to. He'll be all out of it when he hears the good news." And that wasn't an exaggeration either. Leon had been convinced it was a boy from the very beginning, not even considering the possibility that it might be a girl he'd come up with a different name every day. He was so excited about finding out the sex of the baby that he'd called me three times this morning, driving me up the walls until I had threatened not to tell him at all, if he didn't stop bugging me every five minutes. "You better hold onto that one. Good fathers are hard to come by these days." The woman said with a smirk, before she bounced up the stairs and out of my view. Yes, we were both excited about this. So excited that I had completely forgotten about staying in the waiting area until Leon came to pick me up. Well, now that I was already outside anyway, I had no intention to climb back up to the fourth floor and the thought of being crammed into a stifling hot room with a bunch of overly moody women for another forty-five minutes was making me nauseous. It was a sunny spring day, still a little chilly, but warm enough to walk around in a sweater without freezing to death and breathing the fresh air after spending most of the day inside a building full of sick people, gave me the idea of simply changing our agreement around. Instead of Leon picking me up, I would go pick him up. It was only a twenty-five minute walk to the police station, taking a shortcut through the park, I could even make it in twenty. A little exercise would do me good and besides, I was craving some sweets really badly and the convenient store two blocks away from the police station was more tempting to me than ever.  
  
It had only taken me thirty minutes to walk through the park, stop at the store for some grocery shopping and devour half a box of sour cream Pringles on the way from the store to the station. What can I say, pregnant women change their cravings like teenagers change their pop idols. I had cut through an ally, to be able to walk along the front of the big Victorian style building that housed the police station. I figured my best chance of not accidentally missing Leon would be to pass the main entrance for a quick glance at the duty board, checking if he'd already signed out and then heading straight on to the front parking lot, where he would park the Jeep. If the car was still there, I could just wait for him outside.  
  
The main hall was busy as usual, especially at this hour, when the officers from the morning shift left and the afternoon shift picked up their duty. The plastic seats along the west wall were overloaded with people, waiting for somebody to pay attention to their requests and complaints, all the while arguing with each other over who was going to be next. There were people pacing up and down the hall, officers waving around folders, shouting across the counter over the constant ringing of phones. The noise gave me a headache, making me wonder how anybody could get their work done in this chaos. What was going on here today anyway? I greeted a few familiar faces on my way to the front desk, nearly bumping into a detective, who cautiously held a young woman by her arm, leading her towards a room on the opposite side of the hall. The woman was sobbing uncontrollably, as she was wiping at her eyes with a paper towel every so often. I stopped for a moment, watching them as they passed me. Something really terrible must have happened to her, maybe she had just lost a loved one or she had fallen victim to violence and I felt truly sorry for her as my mind conjured up an image of a big, drunk husband beating up on this tiny, defenceless woman. I willed myself not to think about it anymore as I pushed through a group of people occupying the front desk. After all, I was here to announce some good news, not to worry about other people's sorrows. I propped my elbows onto the cool, wooden surface, leaning over the counter to get a sneak peak at the board on the wall behind it. "Leon already left. You just missed him." The hint of a smile crawled over my face as I caught sight of Michael Lopez, the owner of the booming voice, pressing the receiver of a phone against his broad chest. "How long's he been gone?" I asked, a little disappointed. He shrugged, giving me a thoughtful expression. "Four, maybe five minutes?" "Thanks, Mike." I was already on the move when I heard him calling after me. "Hey, Claire! Boy or girl?" "Boy!" I shouted back over my shoulder, catching a grin spread out over the Hispanics handsome features before I turned and hustled towards the exit. "Somebody's gonna be really happy to hear that!" he yelled over the noise in the hall, obviously completely indifferent to whoever was waiting on the other end of that phone he had been holding. I threw my arms up in victory, beaming with pride and I could almost feel Mike laughing behind my back as I picked up speed. Hopefully I would still be able to catch Leon on his way to the car. If not, I could always ask Chris to give me a ride back to the hospital.  
  
I squinted my eyes against the sudden brightness outside, ready to scan the parking lot to my right for the Jeep, that would most certainly stand out against the other cars. I didn't even have to do that. Once my eyes had adjusted to the light, I could make out a figure, standing in the middle of the driveway, some ten meters away. It was Leon alright, shielding his eyes against the sun, staring at something above me. From where I was standing, I couldn't see what it was that had him so preoccupied, but I could hear him shout something, before he stretched out his arms towards the sky, as if reaching for the clouds. "Leon! Leon, over here!" I frantically waved my arm to get his attention. He yanked his head in my direction, dropping his arms and at the same moment I saw a small object drop from the sky, glistening in the sun for a second before it hit the ground with a low clunk, skidded across the rough asphalt and came to a halt only inches away from Leon's feet. "Claire? What are you doing here?" He shouted over the engine of a passing police cruiser that pulled into an empty parking space next to him. "I came to pick you up." I answered, as Leon crouched down to gather up what looked like a set of keys. "Didn't I tell you to wait for me at the hospital? Why you're always ignoring what I say?" He mock scolded me. I held onto the plastic bag with both hands, bouncing it against my knees as I rocked back and forth on my feet, trying to look as innocent as possible. For a brief moment a car distracted me, turning into the street that ran along the back of the parking lot. I didn't give it much thought, even though it was a rather unusual car, a white low rider with shiny chrome railings all along the side and a big heck spoiler. Cars pass all the time, right? "Well, I thought you wanted to hear the good news as soon as possible." I offered as an n excuse for my not following orders. I still didn't pay much attention to the car, even as it awkwardly pulled onto the sidewalk behind Leon. "I do, but you shouldn't be walking around all over town, carrying heavy bags in your condition." 'My condition'. Every time he said that, it made me feel like I was sick or handicapped or something. I put on a frowning face as I prepared to give him a scolding as not to treat me like an invalid, just because I was four months pregnant. His recent over-protection was beginning to seriously annoy me. 'Don't carry heavy stuff. Don't take the bus to school, I'll give you a ride. Don't go out alone after dark. Don't go hiking in the woods.' He was worse than my brother. For the first time, the white car struck me as weird, when from the corner of my eye, I saw both, the man in the back as well as the one sitting behind the steering wheel, roll down their windows. A ray of sun was reflecting on what I believed was one of the chrome railings, blinding me for a split second. "You're making it sound like I was." I didn't get to finish my sentence for it was suddenly cut short by a deep threatening voice, from somewhere behind Leon's back. I couldn't understand what the first man said, but I heard the other one loud and clear and I felt a cold shiver run down my spine almost instantly. "Time to pay, sucker!" he yelled for everyone to hear. From that point on, everything happened so fast I could hardly grasp it happened at all. A woman's terrified shriek from the parking lot pinched my ear and I felt a strong hand locking around my upper arm, yanking at it so forcefully that I accidentally let go of the plastic bag. It slipped from my grip and hit the ground, milk splashing over my sneakers, vegetables and the half empty box of Pringles littering the floor. I struggled to regain my balance, nearly tripping over my own feet as the hand kept pulling me to the left. The last thing I saw was how Leon whirled around to face the car, instinctively reaching for his gun, and then a huge metal container blocked my view. I didn't have to see it, to know what happened next. A shot thundered through the air, glass was breaking as something impacted with a muffled thud, followed by another, shot, not as loud as the first one, a smaller calibre. Time seemed to be standing still for a moment before all hell broke loose. The officer who ducked behind the container with me whipped the gun from his holster, inching towards the edge of the container, yelling at me to stay down, while somebody else had already opened fire immediately joined in by others. The officer's radio crackled to live, barely audible over the cacophony of gunshots and shouting. I heard only two words emerge through the static, gripping my heart so tight that I thought I was going to faint. "Officer down! Officer down!" I pressed my hands against my ears, shielding them from the noise that pounded at my head, all the while hoping, praying that it wasn't true, that Leon hadn't just been shot. There was the screeching of tires, engines roaring to live and sirens echoing all around me as I squeezed my eyes shut in an attempt to block everything out. What had only taken a couple of minutes had seemed to me like an eternity of life in hell and when the noise had finally died down I dared to open my eyes again, staring blankly at the rusty metal in front of me, my vision blurred by the tears of fear welling up inside of me. I swallowed them down as I stepped out behind the container, remaining in a state of shock for a couple of seconds as my worst nightmare had come true right before my eyes. "Leoooon!" I didn't know why I screamed his name for the chances he could still hear me were close to zero. When I was finally able to move again, a pair of strong arms locked around my waist, trying to keep me from running down the driveway to where Leon lay motionless on the ground, with two other police officers crouching over him checking for any sign of life. I knew those arms all too well, they had held me many times whether those times had been good or bad. But in my state of terror and anguish, my brother couldn't hold me back, not even if he had chained me to the wall and with a strength unknown to him, I began to kick and punch until I had yanked myself free from Chris's grip. "Claire don't!" I didn't listen to him, I didn't care. Before I reached the end of the driveway an ambulance had already pulled up through the crowed of spectators on the sidewalk and came to a stop in the same spot where only minutes ago the white low rider had parked, the car with the men who were responsible for the horror I was going through. "What the hell are you staring at? Move on, damn it!" It was Chris's angry voice raising up from somewhere behind me. "Johnson, get those people out of the way, before I break some jaws!" He ordered before gently putting his strong hand on my shoulder. I placed my hand on top of his, incapable of doing anything else as I was staring into Leon's lifeless eyes. The paramedics rushed towards us, kneeling down, immediately starting their work. Like in trance I followed their every move with my eyes until Chris carefully turned me around, tucking me into his arms and I pressed my face against his chest, crying. The way he held me, I knew he was thinking the same thing I was thinking. There was no way Leon was going to live. My world drowned in a sea of tears, every sound around me blocked out by my own sobs. I only came to my senses when Chris shook me repeatedly, calling my name over and over again, mumbling how we had to get to the hospital and that there was still a chance. I didn't know how he got the key to the Jeep or where he found the note, for everything that happened after I had seen Leon lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood is a blur to me. God there was so much blood. It was everywhere, on the shattered window and hood of the police cruiser, on the ground, on Leon's chest, soaking his uniform in a dark crimson. So much. Even on the note that I held onto all the way to the hospital. I don't know what happened at the hospital. I think that at one point Chris was having an argument with someone, but I'm not sure. The only thing I will never forget is the look on the doctor's face when he said the inevitable words, the words that pierced my heart like a spear, ripping a wound into my soul that might never heal. "He died on the way to the hospital."  
  
I dry my tears with the paper towel Chris hands me, forcing a tiny smile on his face. I think I will take him up on his offer to move in with him. I am going to need a lot of help with the baby coming in a few months and staying at the apartment, filled with all of Leon's stuff, our stuff, isn't going to make thing's any easier. Every little thing I see in that place brings back a different memory, so strong, so real, that I can feel his presents. Just like he was still there, like he had never left me. Chris strokes my hot cheek with his rough hand, his eyes, filled with grief, resting on my own. "Come on Claire," his soothing voice a mere whisper "I'll take you home." I nod in agreement as I begin to realise that for the past six days, I've been shutting myself off from the world, even worse, I shut myself off from my brother, refusing to talk to him, pushing him away, when all he was trying to do was comfort me the best way he can. Maybe it's time for me to give Chris a chance, to open up to him. Maybe it's time for me to start facing the world again.  
A/N: Next chapter: The Friend's Story  
  
So Leon's dead. We know that much, but Claire didn't really see a whole lot, now did she? Maybe somebody else saw a little more... 


	2. The Friend's Story part 1

**A/N**: First of all, a big thankx for the reviews! Always appreciate some feedback, so uhm yeah…keep them coming. ^_^  

Promised you some suspense, didn't I? Let's see what I can do for you…I cut this part in half cause…I'm a bitch. Na. Second part of the story is already finished, but there's some minor editing that needs to be done, so it should be up in one or two days…

The Friend's story 

More speeches. I wonder if his mother will even be able to sit through them. She has been crying all afternoon, looking like she was going to have a nervous break down at any minute and I can't blame her. Why are they doing this to her, hasn't she been through enough already? After all she has to bury her youngest son today, who was brutally murdered only a few days ago. I hate funerals. Always have, always will. It's like they _want_ you to break down when they read out the deceased person's entire life in all it's glory, never missing a single good deed they have done. What annoys me the most is the way the priest always talks about the one he buries like he had actually known them. How can he do that? He never met Leon when he was still alive and everybody who's here today knows what a great guy he was. No need to throw it in our faces, making it even harder to accept his death than it already is. I'm glad I declined when the priest asked me to say a 'few words' today. What should I say anyway? That I wish I could turn back time and undo what happened to him? That, if I should ever find those bastards, who murdered my best friend in cold blood, I will make them wish they had never been born? I'm sure nobody wants to hear that.

Jill is curling her small hand around mine, squeezing it, letting me know that she is there for me, but in reality I think she needs me to comfort her just as much. She was pretty upset about the whole thing and as I glance over at her, the glistening at the corner of her eyes reveals to me that she's about to cry. I focus back on the ceremony. So, now it's Danny's turn. First time I ever saw him serious. I should talk to him again about the open coffin thing. I still can't believe the mortician has suckered his mother into choosing a closed coffin for the funeral home where everybody was paying their respect. Not that I was keen on looking at a corpse who had once been a close friend of mine, but I'm surprised that this guy almost insisted on a closed coffin. They usually only advice this to the family when the corpse is utterly mutilated and Leon wasn't shot in the face or anything. It's just weird, like so many things about Leon's death.

I cautiously crane my neck to look at Claire for the ten thousandth time today. She is holding onto Sherry who looks like she's weeping barrels. That poor girl. She's only 14 and considering that she already lost both her parents two years ago, I'm surprised she didn't break down a lot earlier. I can't watch this anymore. This is nothing but torture to them. I gotta do something.

Carefully as not to startle her, I release my hand from Jill's grip, leaning close to her ear and whisper.

"I'll go check on Claire, 'kay? See if she wants to leave or anything."

Jill slowly nods okay, biting her lip. I carefully wipe a single tear from the corner of her eye with my thumb. I haven't seen her this upset since, well for a long time.

"Be right back."

Claire doesn't even notice me as I step up to her, trying to read her tense face.

"How are you holding up, Claire? You wanna leave?"

I ask her as I put my hand on her shoulder, hoping she will at least look at me. She does, shaking her head. I was hoping she would say yes, so I could take her home, have a reason to leave.

"Are you sure? Nobody's gonna blame you if you can't put up with this anymore."

She nods again, but this time I'm not so sure she really means it as her puffy eyes stare blankly at me, tears streaming down her redden cheeks. If she'd only talk to me, if she'd only let me help her. Suddenly, the wall she's build around her breaks down.

"I miss him so much, Chris. How am I supposed to live without him?" 

Her face is quivering, her voice breaking and then she throws herself at me, locking her arms around me so tight I can barely breath. I tuck her into a hug, feeling the wetness of her hot tears slowly penetrate through my shirt. Her voice muffled by her sobs, I can barely hear what she says when she speaks again, but I know what she says. It's the same question she asked me over and over again for the past six days.

"It's so unfair! How could this happen? How could he just get shot? Right there, in front of everybody?"

I run a hand through her soft hair, petting her back as I can only tell her the same thing I have told her so many times before.

"I wish I knew, Claire. I wish I knew."

And I mean it. I would give anything to be able to answer this question for it has been haunting me ever since that day I had to see how Leon Kennedy, my best friend, was murdered right before my eyes.

I was tired, hungry and most of all frustrated as I went over the file on my desk for the fourth time today. Resting my elbow on the scratched up wooden surface, I flipped through the pages, every once in a while looking at the photographs lined up in front of me, showing a mutilated corpse in all it's colourful details. There had to be a damn clue hidden in those pages somewhere, I just needed to find it. As STARS, we don't get a lot of murder cases, unless they are somehow connected to our missions. We're a rescue team for crying out loud, we're trying to get people out _before_ they die! This case however was different to say the least. Tyron Banks, a sixteen-year-old juvenile ran away from his foster home in Colorado, for the third time, only to miraculously disappear without a trace. Six weeks ago, his horribly mutilated corpse got washed ashore the riverbank in the woods outside our city. His body showed several half healed operation scars as well as a bunch of post mortal wounds, like somebody had carried out experiments on him not only before, but also after he died. There were no clues what so ever to who could have done this to the poor boy. No fingerprints, no DNA samples, not even a fibre or thread of clothing. The body was sterile like a freshly shrink-wrapped syringe. Who ever murdered Tyron, knew exactly what the police would be looking for to track them down. They had to be highly intelligent, not to mention that they had to have the equipment to 'clean up' the corpse. Nobody could make any sense of this, so sure enough chief dumped the file on my desk, saying it could have something to do with illegal organ transplants. But I doubted this. The worst part about this case was, that the more I studied it, the deeper I dug into it, the more it reminded me of the bizarre murder cases in Raccoon City more than two years ago and all those cruel experiments Umbrella had cooked up in their secret labs. I knew Umbrella was no more, for I had played a big part in the downfall of their empire. The people in charge of the company were all either in prison or dead, the labs had been shut down and destroyed and stricter regulations for pharmaceutical companies and their research had been established throughout the country. Yet I couldn't get rid of the feeling that underneath the slick surface of it all, something was boiling, just waiting to burst out.

Sighing, I leaned back in my chair, locked my arms behind my neck and let my eyes wander aimlessly across the room. The warm sunlight of a delightful spring day flooded the office, giving it an almost cosy touch, compared to the threatening atmosphere it had on a dark rainy day, with the six heavy semi-antique desks and the well-used hard wood floor. The only thing that didn't match with the rest of the interior was the radio and surveillance station at the far wall, crammed with the latest technical equipment, monitors for infrared and regular cameras, computers, radios, a relay station and the biggest switchboard I've ever seen in my life. You were looking for any special device to track down an earthworm from a 'copter flying 1000 feet above the ground, we had it. 

The constant ticking of the wall clock, echoing through the room made me realised how quiet it was in the chilly STARS office without the others. The bravo team was out on a search and rescue and the rest of the alphas, well, Becca had called in sick this morning, Barry was still on his well deserved vacation, Ethan had been sent out with the bravos, apparently cause they needed another tech and I couldn't possibly ask Jill to come in and help me out again. She had been working double shifts all week and I wanted her to get some rest on her day off.

I was still pondering over my misery, when the door popped open without a warning and suddenly I was looking straight at Leon, grinning like the tooth fairy herself, while hiding something behind his back.

"Betcha didn't eat anything yet, did ya?"

Before I had a chance to answer his question, he shoved the door shut with his boot, strolled over to my desk and produced a brown paper bag and a cup from behind his back. What can I say, he reads me like a book and with a triumphant smile, he set the bag on the table, lazily dropping his keys next to my lunch. 

"You're my saviour." I told him with a lopsided grin as I reached across the desk for the bag. "How can I _ever_ repay you?"

Leon leaned over the table and gave me the puppy eye look.

"By sucking up to the chief for me when he finds out I'm leaving half an hour early today?"

I shifted my gaze from the contents of the rustling bag, straight into his innocent blue eyes.

"Are you bribing me?"

He threw his arms up in defence.

"Never!"

I rummaged through the bag and was once again surprised how well he knew me as I produced a cheeseburger, extra sauce, no onions. Unwrapping the burger, I watched Leon casually rounding the obstacle between us, lowering him onto the corner of my desk. Quietly and with an absent look on his face he began to poke around the file spread out in front of me, his expression becoming even more thoughtful as he shuffled through the photos. He had asked me about the case several times before, but I never thought that it would occupy his mind _that_ much. Probably cause he was one of the officers securing the crime scene when they had fished Tyron's body out of the river. I had the slightest suspicion that he'd start questioning me about it again and I really didn't wanna talk about the case, now that I finally had a little distraction so I tried to come up with another topic.

"I see you visited Bernice today." I said in between bites.

He quickly raised his head, confusion written all over his face.

"Huh?"

I pointed at his chest, using the straw sticking out of my coke as a pointing device.

"Oh yeah." He said as he realised that the front of his dark blue uniform was still studded with white fluffy cats hair. Drawing quotation marks into the air with his fingers, he continued.

"We had a severe case of catnapping today.  Thought about calling in STARS, too, but as you can see," He paused to pick off some of the evidence, holding it out to me and I could already feel my eyes itching. Damn allergy.

"I was able to solve the problem all by myself. Thank you very much." Beaming with fake pride, he tossed the bundle of cat's hair into the trashcan under my desk.

"Never doubted that. – So, how is the old lady? Still giving you good advice on how to live your life?"

He shrugged.

"What can I say, she loves me. Didn't talk to her much today, but the cat thing gave me another idea for a name. How about Joseph?"

Leon raised his eyebrows in anticipation to my answer. I was sincerely hoping he wasn't going to name his kid after a cat.

"Sure and if you decide on Franklin as a middle name, his initials could be JFK."

He frowned.

"Yeah, you're right, …Joseph Franklin is definitely off the list."

I couldn't help but laugh, nearly choking on a French fry, as he actually fished a piece of paper and a pen from his breast pocket, scribbling something down.

"Leon," I said, still trying to swallow the damn fry, "you're so full of yourself, it's unbelievable." I turned to toss the burger wrapper into the trash, and then looked back up at him. "What are you gonna do if it turns out to be a girl, huh?" I asked, secretly hoping it _would_ be a girl, just to prove him wrong and I was also hoping she would be just as quick-witted as Claire was when she was a kid, giving him a really hard time, so he would stop teasing me about being over protective of my sister. Hell yeah, I could already see him training his Desert Eagle at a totally frightened teenager, cross examining the poor boy about his sexual preferences, while Claire and his daughter would be bitching in the background about how he was ruining his daughters prom night. A tempting thought indeed.

"It won't be a girl." 

Tucking 'the list' back into his pocket, he slowly rose to a standing position.

"What makes you so sure?"

"It's simple." He explained. "A Kennedy's first born child is always a boy. Always."

"What ever." I grinned

"No really. Look at my family. First one was always male. My grandfather, my father, then Matt and his first baby was a boy, Danny doesn't have any yet…at least none that I know of…and now it's my turn." He trailed off, lowering his head, staring at the floor for while. When he looked back at me his expression was serious.

"Chris…Can I ask you a question?"

I shrugged.

"Shoot."

"If…if anything should ever happen to me, hypothetically speaking of course…"

"Of course."

"Would you…would you take care of him?…I don't mean financially. I mean…teaching him how to play ball…stuff like that?"

I was surprised, if not a little shocked and I had no idea why he would ask me such a question out of the blue, but I guess being a cop, facing crazy people almost every day, does make you think about those kind of things.

"Um…sure."

And I meant it. After all it was gonna be my first nephew, or niece and I was looking forward to being an uncle in a few months.

"Thanks…Anyway." Leon looked at his watch. "I better get going. Claire's waiting for me at the hospital and I don't wanna be late."

He waved a quick good bye and turned to leave.

"See you later, right? … Five-ish at the court?"

I asked, as he reached the door, twisting the doorknob.

"Yup."

"And be prepared. This time, I will show no mercy. This time I will kick your ass so bad you'll be crying for weeks"

Leon looked over his shoulder, laughing.

"Sure you will."

And before I could say anything else, he was gone. Yeah, so far, it was a pretty normal day.

A few minutes later, I was twiddling the phone cord around my index finger, feet propped up on my desk, talking to Jill. I wasn't surprised at all that she'd called me. She was a workaholic just like myself and it seemed when ever she had a day off, she got bored.

"No really, you don't have to come in today." I said. "I'm fine. I'll hang my head over the Banks file for another couple of hours and then I'll head on home."

"Still no lead, huh?" She asked.

"Nope. What confuses me…" I flipped through the file again, to find what I was going to read out to her, when suddenly I spotted something on my desk that didn't belong there.

"Oh damn." I said out loud unintentionally.

"What is it?" Jill asked, somewhat concerned.

"Leon left his car keys on my desk… That moron."

I could hear Jill chuckled on the other end of the line while I raised my coke, shaking it slightly to measure how much I had left. Clicking ice cubes, told me I had finished it all and a little disappointed, I dropped the empty cup into the trashcan.

"I'm serious Jill. He's been acting all weird lately and it's getting worse every day. He'd forget his head if it wasn't attached to his shoulders."

"He's just excited about the baby. Can you blame him?" Jill suggested. 

She was probably right. Never the less, I was a little concerned with my friends strange behaviour that he'd displayed for the past few weeks. It wasn't the first time he'd forgotten something, or didn't pay attention when you talked to him. I picked up the keys, looking at them for a moment, trying to figure out what I should do.

"Well he better snap out of it soon, or he'll get himself killed one of these days. I've never seen him this confused. It's like…I don't know." I told her, shrugging to myself.

"Well…" Jill said, "…aren't you gonna give them to him?"

"I guess I should, huh. Hold on a minute, would you?" 

I rose from my chair, slightly annoyed about having to interrupt my conversation and headed for the office window. If I was lucky, Leon had parked the Jeep at the front parking lot that was easy to overlook from up here, and I could catch him on his way to the car. Sure enough I caught sight of the Jeep right away and there was Leon, crossing the driveway in a hurry. With some effort, I was able to yank open the window and was immediately greeted by the noise of early afternoon traffic, from the streets surrounding the Police station and the adjacent parking lot, that made up almost an entire city block. Secretly I thanked god again for soundproof windows. 

Keys in hand, I leaned onto the windowsill and but couldn't resist to wait until I saw Leon's dumbfounded face as he checked all his pockets.

"Missing something?" I yelled at him, a grin on my face.

He seemed pretty surprised when he looked up.

"I can't find my damn keys!" he shouted across the parking lot.

I stuck out my arm, triumphantly dangling the set of keys in the air, hoping he would be able to see them in his state of confusion. Leon stepped back into the driveway, took a few eager strides towards the main entrance suddenly stopping in the middle of the driveway. Shielding his eyes against the sun, he shifted his gaze from the ground back up at me.

"You know what" He shouted over the street noise "just toss 'em."

I signalled him that I understood, but hesitated for a second when I spotted the approaching squad car. As not to accidentally hit it, I decided to throw the keys short, instead of aiming for Leon's outstretched arms. All he had to do was take another step forward, but distracted by something or someone, he suddenly jerked around and the keys bounced of the ground, skidded across the asphalt and came to a stop a few inches short of Leon's feet. "Damn it boy, when are you gonna get your focus back." I mumbled to myself, before I realised he was talking to someone. From where I was standing I couldn't see who it was and over the noise of the police cruiser's engine, backing up into a parking space next to Leon, I couldn't hear anything either. Which reminded me that Jill was still waiting for me on the phone and I trotted back to my desk. 

I don't know what made me return to the window after I had picked up the conversation with my teammate again. Maybe I intended to close it, to shut out the street noise, maybe I wanted to get some more fresh air to clean out my head or maybe I subconsciously felt that something was about to happen. Either way, I steadied my hand against the window frame, listening to Jill's story of her day, all the while watching the traffic outside for no particular reason, when suddenly an extremely shiny, white limousine with a huge heck spoiler and polished chrome railings caught my eye. It deliberately bumped onto the sidewalk, slowly rolling towards the driveway where Leon was still chatting it up with somebody. Seeing how the car's body was lowered to only a few inches of the ground, I had a pretty good idea what kind of driver was hiding behind the tanned windows. 'Damn kids.' I thought to myself 'What were they doing in this part of town any way?'

"Wanna go to the movies tonight?" Jill interrupted my thoughts.

"Sure, why not." I said absently into the receiver, my eyes still fixed on the white limo. There was something strange about that car, but I couldn't quiet put my finger on it. 

Finally it came to a halt, only two or three meters behind Leon, blocking the entire driveway. The funny thing was, that I could have sworn I had seen this car occupying the corner parking space, in the row closest to the police station only a few minutes ago, when I was searching the parking lot for Leon's Jeep. So why had they rounded half a block, just to pull back into the driveway? I couldn't help it but I had a gut feeling that something was very wrong here and it grew even stronger when I saw the front and back window being rolled down simultaneously. 

"Huh?" I knew Jill had asked me a question, but concentrating on the car, I hadn't caught it.

"Do you want me to pick you up?" Jill asked impatiently.

"Na…I …I'll come over when I'm ready, 'kay?"

I instinctively shaded my eyes when a bright ray of light blinded me for a moment and it took me a couple of seconds before I realised it wasn't the cars mirror that threw back the sun, but the barrel of a shotgun poking out behind the drivers seat.

"Oh shit!" I cried out, dropping the phone as awareness hit me over the head like a brick.

"It's time to pay, sucker!" Somebody shouted across the driveway.

From that point on everything seemed to be going in slow motion. A woman, standing by her car in the parking lot let out an ear-piercing shriek, drowning out my own voice as I shouted in panic, at the top of my lungs.

"Leon! GET DOWN!"

But he was already in motion, spinning around, reaching for his gun. For the blink of an eye, the shotgun's muzzle flash was visible as the shot roared through the air and Leon was thrown backwards onto the hood of the squad car, glass shattering as his back hit the cars front screen. Somehow he still managed to slide off the hood, clasping his chest as a massive amount of blood spurted out from beneath his fingers. People were screaming and ducking for cover all around. In the midst of all this chaos, I saw the guy in the drivers seat whip out a 9mm and then, there was another shot. I didn't know whether it hit Leon or not, but two seconds later he collapsed to the ground and this time he didn't get back up. I froze. Like a tree rooted into the ground I just stood there staring at the driveway. From somewhere below I heard Jill's distorted voice calling my name before one of the officers opened fire at the white car and the cracking of overlapping gunfire drowned everything else out. And then, I ran. I sprinted across the office, down the hallway, boots kicking against the hardwood floor, people's faces rushing by in a blur as I practically flew down the two flights of stairs, taking two, three steps at a time, recklessly pushing everybody out of my way. I didn't slow down, not even when I reached the crowded entrance hall. Instead, I forced my way through the mass of people alternately shouting, "Move!" and "Get the fuck out of my way!" at everybody who tried to stop me. Somewhere to my right, Mike was yelling at me over the confused voices of people and the blaring sirens, as he leaped over the counter.

"They shot Leon!" I shouted back without looking. Half way through the hall I realised that the sliding doors wouldn't open fast enough and I hit the breaks, skidding over the slippery marvel floor, coming to a stop a few feet away from the main entrance where Mike caught up with me. The seconds it took for the doors to part felt like an eternity to me. When we finally stepped outside, the gunfire had ceased and the sirens of pursuing cop cars subsided in the distance. I was about to jog down the driveway, when suddenly a desperate cry distracted me.

"Leoooon!"

Claire? What the hell was she doing here? She wasn't supposed to be here. I spun around and sure enough my sister was standing next to a metal container, looking like a ghost and I could see she was getting ready to head down the driveway. I couldn't let this happen. I couldn't let her near him. God only knew what she was gonna do when she saw Leon' dead body up close and personal and at this point I was almost certain he _was_ dead. I leaped forward, locking my arms around her waste, trying to hold her back, but I had underestimated her strength and after she kicked me repeatedly in the shins, I couldn't hold her anymore and she yanked free, breaking into a run.

"Claire don't!" I screamed after her.

But it was too late. All I could do was try to catch up with her before she reached the end of the driveway, at the same time knowing that it was gonna be impossible for me to stop her.

The approaching ambulance had trouble getting into the driveway without running over some of the spectators that crowded the sidewalk, trying to get a good look at the crime scene. How I hated those sensation hungry bastards. To them every accident, every murder was a spectacle, something exciting in their pathetic little lives, they could tell their friends about when they got home and the more blood was involved, the better the story would be. But this wasn't a scene from a horror movie, this was real life. There was a real person bleeding, a good cop fighting for his life, most likely dying right before their staring eyes and above all, that dying cop was _my_ best friend.

"What the hell are you staring at? Move on, damn it!" I screamed at one of the bystanders who didn't seem to get enough of the cruel scene, blocking the paramedic's path. I was barely able to contain myself when that guy just gave me a pouting look.

"Johnson, get those people out of the way before I break some jaws!" I yelled at the officer closest to me. Stepping up behind Claire, I lightly put my hand on her shoulder and she responded by slipping her own cold hand on top of mine. I felt so sorry for her and I wished I could have told her everything was gonna be okay, but I knew that it would be a lie when I looked over her shoulder. McKinley was still pressing his hands on Leon's chest, desperately trying to stop the bleeding, but it seemed the harder he pressed, the more blood came spurting out between his fingers and as the paramedics finally arrived pushing him aside, I already knew they wouldn't be able to save Leon either. From that point on, my biggest worry was Claire and how she was going to take it. I gently turned her around and tucked her into a tight hug, helplessly listened to her cry, all the while a single thought repeating itself in my head over and over like a broken record. 'Why did he have to die?' 

I didn't even notice McKinley standing next to me, until he started talking, abruptly bringing me back to reality.

"Man, can you believe it? The shot must have gone right through the bulletproof vest. And that's how they protect us." He paused, slowly shaking his head. "I'm so sorry, Chris." His voice dropped to a whisper. "For a moment I truly thought he could make it. With there still being a pulse and all…"

There was a pulse? I jerked my head towards McKinley, then at the paramedics, loading the stretcher into the ambulance. Was Leon still alive? Suddenly my brain was going a hundred miles an hour and all I could think off was getting to the hospital as fast as possible. As I let go of Claire to crouch down and pick up the keys to the Jeep, I spotted a small piece of paper on the ground next to the damaged police cruiser. Why I picked it up, I don't know. Maybe because I knew it was Leon's list of names and as it was the last thing he ever wrote down, I wanted to hold onto it. The paper was a little torn and sprayed with blood, kinda hard to read, but from what I could still make out, it was clearly a list. Not a list of names though.

_'Decide on a name for the baby'_

_'See Danny about the car'_

_'Call mom'_

_'Take Claire to the beach'_

_'Let Chris win in BB'_

As surprised as I was, I didn't have the time to wonder about it now, we had to get into the car before the ambulance took off. Claire was in a state of shock. She cried and quivered and as she didn't react to my carefully shaking her and calling her name over and over, I grabbed her by the arm, pulling her after me towards the Jeep.

I floored the accelerator, racing down the streets, chasing the blaring sirens of the ambulance and I prayed that against all odds, Leon would make it. For Claire's sake, for the baby's sake. After what appeared to be an eternity, we reached the driveway to the emergency room and I slammed on the breaks, tires screeching the Jeep swerved to a stop at the curb and I jumped out, dragging Claire along with me. I saw the paramedics rushing the stretcher towards the entrance, but they weren't doing anything. Why weren't they doing anything? Weren't they supposed to like…give CPR, reanimate, I don't know…At least do something! 

The security guard at the entrance blocked our way, saying the emergency entrance was for personal only and after losing a precious five minutes over arguing with him, I threw my badge in his face, shouting at him that I would have him arrested if he didn't move his stupid ass to let us in. Once he had backed up, it was a mere instinct that let me run down the corridor to my right until I hit the automatic doors of an emergency room, but when I stopped to look through the small window, I only saw what I had dreaded all the time. A nurse covered Leon's face, while the doctor in his blood soaked coat checked his watch. Leon was officially declared dead at exactly 2.37 p.m.

                An hour later I was sitting on the wooden bench in the stuffy PD's locker room, fiddling with the set of keys in my hands. I wanted to be with Claire, but the nurses wouldn't let me, telling me it was crucial that she rested and that nobody, including me, disturbed her. I didn't want to disturb her; I just wanted to be with her. At least the baby was alright. When Claire had had that nervous break down, after the doctor told her that Leon died in the ambulance, I truly thought she would lose the baby too. The nurse had told me to go home, maybe come back later, but what was I supposed to do at home now? I figured it would be best to return to the police station, maybe get some work done, before I went insane, from staring at my bedroom ceiling.

I shifted my gaze from the keys back to the nametag on the locker in front of me. 'Leon S. Kennedy' Eventually, somebody would have to clean out his locker and I had the keys right here, so why was it so hard to just do it? It wouldn't get any better if I waited another couple of hours, or days for that matter. I might as well do it right now, get it over with. Swallowing hard, I pushed of the bench and dragged myself to the locker. The door snapped open easily and sucking in another deep breath, I dared to look inside.

"What the hell?"

A/N:

Next Chapter: The Friend's Story (Part 2)

Chris's day is bad enough already, but it's far from being over. As a matter of fact it's just about to begin....


	3. The Friend's Story part 2

The Friend's Story (part 2)

The door to the chief's office rattled in its hinges as I threw it open, not bothering to shut it, before I stormed across the fluffy carpet. Without a warning, I slammed the bulletproof vest onto the chief's desk with a loud thud, nearly knocking over his precious NYPD coffee mug.

"When did you issue new vests?" Despite his being my superior, I didn't care to ask politely.

Chief Harris looked up from the folder in his hands, with a grim expression on his bearded face.

"Damn it Redfield. Why are you trying to give me a heart attack?" He quickly glanced at the vest in front of him, then back at me. "To answer your question, I _never_ issued new vests."

"Then how come I found this…" I gave the vest a shove, causing it to slide across the polished mahogany surface. . "…in Leon's locker not two minutes ago?"

Harris stopped it clumsily with one chubby hand before it could drop into his lap. A hint of confusion began to spread out over the chief's face as he pushed the object of discussion back into a steady position.

"Kennedy wasn't wearing his vest? That's not like him."

"According to McKinley, he was…Just not this one I guess." I angrily pointed at the vest.

Harris finally closed the folder and put it aside, before resting both his arms on top of his desk. Suddenly, I had his undivided attention.

"Why?" He asked, his face puzzled, but calm.

"You tell me." I folded my arms, slightly tilting my head in anticipation to his answer.

"Look, Redfield." He said in a calm voice. "I know you are upset about what happened. We all are." He reassured me, "But I'm sure there is a simple explanation as to why Kennedy didn't wear this vest." He shrugged indifferently. "Maybe he got himself a new one…I got quiet a few Officers who think the standard police vests are crap and buy another one at their own expense. It's not that unusual, you know."

If that was all he had to offer, it was lame. Leon never mentioned getting another vest and I was almost positive he would have asked for my or Barry's opinion on the matter. The reason had to be a different one and I was going to find out. 

"I wanna be part of the investigation team." I said, leaning across the desk, fixing my eyes on his as to give my a little more weight to my request.

"No."

Harris reached for his mug, then casually leaned back into his leather chair, sipping on the cold coffee. The frustration that had build up inside of me was turning into anger. How could he simply turn me down? But deep inside I knew the answer even before he told me.

"You know I can't assign you to this case. You are too emotionally involved."

Of course I was emotionally involved. How could I not be? Leon was my friend, not to mention my pregnant sister's boy friend. But that was exactly why I owed it to them to find his murderer.

Harris set the mug back onto the table before he continued.

"The media is already on my ass. A cop being shot right in front of the police station is very bad public relations. It makes us all look like dumb asses and I really don't need you, or any other STARS member for that matter, to go on a revenge rampage about it."

He lifted his heavyset body of the chair and slowly rounded the table as he spoke.

"I already got Steward and Kramer on the case and you know they are my best detectives."

As he reached me, he comfortingly put a hand on my shoulder, slowly turning me around.

"I suggest you take a few days off. Try to calm down. Take care of your sister. And don't worry about your work either. Chambers is gonna be back tomorrow and Valentine is already in the office, replacing you." He said while guiding me towards the exit, practically shoving me through the still open door. "Now… do yourself a favour and _go_ home."

I felt cheated by Harris when I heard the door fall shut behind me and I sure as hell wasn't going to go home. I needed to talk to somebody, somebody who would listen to me.

                Jill Valentine was always the right person to talk to when you needed somebody to discuss your problems with. She had this special talent to make a problem seem less of a problem with her unbelievable optimism. Yeah, she could make me smile in the worst of times.

"Hey Chris." Jill said with nothing but sympathy in her green eyes as I entered the STARS office. She rose from her desk, giving me a quick hug."

"I came over as soon as I heard. How's Claire? Is she alright?" She asked, truly concerned, looking straight into my eyes.

I shook my head. Jill gently pushed me backwards into a chair, crouching down before me, her small hands resting on my knees. She didn't say anything, giving me time to start whenever I was ready.

"Why? Why Leon?"

"I…I don't know." Her voice was so low, it was barely audible. I wanted to talk to her, but I didn't even know where to begin. It was so screwed up, so utterly wrong that I couldn't make sense of it, no matter how hard I tried.

"Not even two hours ago he was right here, joking around with me and the next thing I know…" I trailed off. "It just doesn't make sense, Jill…Who would want to kill him?"

Jill shifted. "Chief said it was probably gang related. Could have been revenge."

"Revenge for _what_?" I asked her.

She looked down at her hands, scratching on my cargos with her index finger.

"Maybe…maybe he busted some gang member and then the others freaked out. You don't know."

I shook my head in disagreement.

"No. Cedar Hights wasn't on his tour. Not even close. He didn't have a single patrol on the east side for _over two months_."

I knew for sure he didn't cause I myself had persuaded the chief to only give him patrol routes along the west side of town, right after I had found out Claire was pregnant. Leon would have hated me, had he ever found out, but I figured I'd make sure Claire didn't have to worry about him all the time. Could life be anymore ironic?

"As sick as it sounds, but… do you think it could have been a mix up? Maybe they didn't want to kill Leon, maybe… they thought he was somebody else?" Jill suggested, looking back up.

"Yeah, maybe." I turned away for a moment. "And maybe Christmas is on December first this year…and maybe Harris will assign me to the case." 

"He told you off, huh?"

I nodded.

"I heard he put Steward and Kramer on it. Is that true?" Wrinkles forming on her forehead as she asked. Jill disliked them just as much as I did. Steward and Kramer were two small town wanna-be-FBI-agent detectives and the only thing worse than their cheap suits was their arrogance. I was sure Harris had picked them because they would get him presentable results in a very short time, but I was afraid they'd miss something. Hell, they both had their heads so deep up the chief's ass, it was impossible for them to spot a truck on a tennis court.

"He might as well have put Goofy and Donald on it." I sighed. "I wonder if they have any leads yet."

Jill looked up at me with a smirk.

"You wanna take matters into your own hands, don't you?"

Yeah, she could read my mind and that was what I loved about her…among other things. I covered her hands, with mine, leaned closer towards her and locked gazes with her..

"Are you with me, Jill?"

                The rest of the afternoon we did nothing but evolving and rejecting theories, secretly we sounded out anyone who had been at or near the crime scene, we checked all of Leon's reports trying to find out what he had been working on, we even made a list of possible suspects. But the results of our investigation were frustrating to say the least. There was nothing, nothing what so ever that could help us. It was like the whole world was against us and I was close to believing that I was seeing things, just because I wanted to see them, because I didn't want to accept the fact that Leon had been killed for no reason, just like so many others were killed for no reason every day. 

Jill had focused on the car, our best bet to find the suspects, but had come up empty handed. The officers, who had pursued the white limousine told her, they had been able to chase it into a basement garage about three miles south of the police station. They had immediately blocked every exit, every possible escape route, but when they moved in, the car wasn't there. It had simply disappeared, vanished into thin air, evaporated, dissolved, what ever you wanna call it…and so had the passengers. How, they couldn't tell, but it was a trick even Houdini would have been jealous of. For two hours, twenty cops had searched and re-searched the entire basement garage and the surrounding areas. Nothing, not a trace. Of course they had been able to get the license plate, but that too, was a dead end. The license plate was registered under the name of Gregory Parker, a twenty-year-old supermarket employee, living and working in Cedar Hights. It would have been a good lead, it would have fit, hadn't his car been reported stolen three weeks ago. On top of this the stolen car  wasn't a limousine, it wasn't even white, it was a red pick up truck.

It was already dark outside and wrecking my brain over all the odd things I had come across, I hadn't even realised how late it was. Jill had decided to go down to the evidence room, trying to see if she could sneak a peak at what they had so far, but I guessed she wouldn't find anything either. I flicked another paper-pellet  at the wastebasket next to Jill's desk, seeing it bounced of the rim and disappear inside. Score! Yeah, right about now, I was supposed to be watching a movie with Jill, bragging about how I had finally defeated the all time champion, Leon S. Kennedy, in our weekly one on one Basketball competition and…wait a minute. Suddenly, I recalled that list I found. He had planed on _letting_ me win. But why? And why had he asked me to take care of his son in case…had he suspected something would happen to him? Had he been in some sort of trouble? It would at least explain his strange behaviour but…no, I shock my head trying to convince myself. He would have told me, I was sure about that. He trusted me and I trusted him, there was no reason to keep any secrets. I quickly pushed that thought away never the less making a mental note to ask Claire sometime if he had ever mentioned anything. Just in case. For now, I had to find his murderers and _then_ I could worry about a motive. But how?

In my desperation, I did something that, under normal circumstances, I would never consider doing. I called Kramer.

Just the thought of having to ask him for help send a wave of disgust through my body.  When he finally picked up the phone, I decided to cut the conversation to a minimum, starting by simply skipping all formalities.

"Kramer…uhm…I was just wondering if you guys had the ballistics report back yet?"

"Redfield? It's you isn't it? And I'm guessing you're talkin' 'bout the Kennedy murder, aren't ya?"

I gripped the receiver tight, telling myself to be nice to him, no matter what.

"Yeah…so…you heard anything yet?"

"Nasty thing that, isn't it? Shot him right there in the parking lot." He made a sucking noise. "It's a shame, really. Heard he was a damn good cop…for a patrolman, anyway. But who knows, might have made Detective some day…But what am I tellin' you. You knew him better than I did, didn't ya?"

I forced a fake smile on my face, even though he couldn't see it, just to make myself feel better.

"Yeah. As a matter of fact, he was a very good friend of mine."

"Oh that's right! He was the guy who knocked up your sister wasn't he?…Sorry.." He gave a little laugh "where are my manners… got her pregnant of course"

I gritted my teeth so hard that my jaw was starting  to hurt. Taking a deep breath, exhaling slowly, I continued

"The ballistics report…please?"

"Right, the report." I could hear him shovelling papers around for a while, then he came back on. "Got it right here… Well, not much in it. The shell we found is a 12 calibre, shot by a standard Remington M1100 from the looks of it…No news on the weapon itself yet."

I wasn't too surprised about this. After all, who ever those guys were, they had taken the weapon with them and as the car had disappeared, so had the shotgun.

"What about the other one? The 9mm? Got anything on that?" I asked, since this was what I really cared about.

"What other one? There was no other one, was there?" He didn't even sound surprised about my question. However I was quiet surprised about his answer.

"What do mean there was no other one? Check the report. It was a 9mm, I'm pretty sure about that. There's gotta be a shell…or even the bullet itself. Depending on whether it hit him or not."

"Look Redfield." There was impatience and his typical know-it-all attitude swinging in his voice "I got the report right here in front of me. I can read and I'm tellin' ya, there is no other one… Neither a shell, nor a bullet." 

"Well, check it again!" I snapped at him in disbelieve.

"What? You think I'm stupid? Listen, I already told you, there … is …no …other one!"

Quiet frankly, yes I did think he was stupid and my patience was wearing thin too. 

"No _you_ listen, dipshit! I was there. I heard the second shot. I SAW the other weapon for crying out loud! So cut the crap Kramer and give me the real deal."

I had a feeling that he wasn't telling me the truth. Then again, what reason would he have to lie to me?

"Hey, you wanna be nice to me, cause I'm already puttin' my ass on the line for you here. Chief warned me you would start snoopin' around and he said no matter what you say, it's not your case. I don't know what you think you saw or heard, but don't ya think we would have found some evidence if there HAD been another weapon, huh?".

"Well maybe you just fucked it up, Kramer. Maybe you should start looking again!"

I knew I shouldn't yell at him, but I _had_ seen it!

"Don't you fuckin' tell me how to do my job, Redfield. There's a good reason why _I_ am the detective in charge of this case. If you got a problem with that, go find somebody who cares."

Before I could throw him another insult, I was disconnected.

"Well, fuck you too, asshole!" I shouted into the receiver and slammed it onto the hook. One thing was clear, I didn't have to call him again for the autopsy report once it came in. I had screwed it up and there was nobody else to blame but me. 

At the end of this awful day, I had more questions than answers. I had a murder case, but no motive. I had about twenty witnesses, but no suspects. I had a license plate, but no car. I was missing a bullet, instead I had two bulletproof vests. But worst of all, I had a dead friend, who was never gonna come back and a pregnant sister who wouldn't talk to me.

"Shit!" I screamed at the empty office and in a sudden outburst of anger at nothing in particular, at the whole world in general, I swiped my arm over the desk, wiping it clean, sending papers and photos flying through the air, pencils and office supplies clattered to the ground, rolling around, the phone crashing onto the hardwood floor with a loud bang for the second time today. It was stupid, but it felt good to vent some anger. I leaned back into my chair, burying my face into my hands, trying to focus back to the case at hand. My thoughts were tight up in a knot and instead of bringing relieve, helping me to concentrate, the darkness I was staring at conjured up but one image: Leon, dead in the parking lot, his eyes empty, his face drained of all emotions and I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time, fear, despair, powerlessness and a deep sadness and I did something I hadn't done in a long time either; I actually cried.

Claire pulls away from me, her eyes swollen, her face a mask of pain. I offer her a paper towel, trying to force a tiny smile on my face as I watch her wiping her tears away. It's all I can do right now. She seems so brave, so strong, but I know deep inside it's tearing her apart and I wish for nothing more than her giving me a chance to help her. I hope she will take me up on my offer to move in with me. I just want her near me, I want to be there for her when she needs me but most of all, I don't want her to be alone. I run my hand over her hot face, drying of the last lonely tear, dribbling down her cheek.

"Come on Claire," I say as softly as I manage "I'll take you home."

As she looks at me, I realise that for the past six days, I have been hiding behind my work, making it my first and foremost priority to find anything that could answer my question as to why and who had shot Leon, being a pain in the ass for everybody around me. I denied the possibility of his death being accidental with such persistency, that I forgot there are more important things in life than avenging the dead. My sister is still alive and she needs me …sane. Maybe I should take a few days off, do something else for a change. Maybe it's time for me to accept the fact, that finding Leon's murderer won't change anything, he'll still be dead. Maybe it's time for me to let it go …or at least, push it off for some time.

A/N:

Next Chapter: The Victim's Story

Yeah, you've guessed it. The last part will be Leon's POV. Let's see what he's got to say about it. Maybe he can shed some light on the whole mess…


	4. The Victim's Story part 1

A/N 

Now, throw those paper towels away and stop hitting your head against the wall cause you know what they say: It's not over before the fat lady sings!… or was it before the victim tells his story?… I don't remember. Anyway before we get back to the story, I wanna say thank you again for the reviews! I'm flattered…* blushes * I never expected to even get any and look at me go…* smiles *

Leon: * smacks Author on the head with a news paper*

Author: Ouch! * rubs her head * What was that for?

Leon: Stop praising yourself and let me tell my story! Can't you see they're waiting?

Author: Yeah, yeah okay. * backs away * Stage is all yours…Jeez, aren't we moody today…

Leon: It's about time, thank you very much. … * walks on stage *

Author: * whispers * At least he was quiet through the first couple of chapters.

Leon: I heard that! * turns to readers * So, you wanna know what happened to me? I'll tell you…

The Victim's Story

Eyes closed, I rest my head against the cool surface of the tanned window, feeling the low vibration of the car passing through my body. Shifting in the seat, trying to find a more comfortable position, I understand, that no matter how tired I am, I won't be able to sleep. I look at the reflection in the window for a moment. It's still a stranger, staring back at me, with those artificial brown eyes and dark hair. As I 'm about to brush some hair out of my eyes, I realise that I'll have to stop doing this. It looks stupid, now that my hair is too short, to even fall into my face. The suburban landscape rushes by, houses and apartment buildings all lined up along the quiet streets, streets that I know like the back of my hand.

"Hey, Darryl. Pull over a minute." I say to the driver.

"What?" He asks, looking at me in the rear view mirror.

"Are you deaf? Pull over. …I gotta take a leak."

"Now?" I can see the surprise in his dark face being reflected in the mirror.

"No in half an hour. I'm just giving you some time to think about it."

The car slows down, pulling up to the curb, stopping only a few yards short of the heavy cemetery gates.

"Don't be too long." Darryl says, popping a piece of gum into his mouth as I climb out of the back seat.

"What ever." I mumble to myself, slamming the door shut behind me and start walking towards the gate. I know he's watching me, but I couldn't care less. Once inside the cemetery I quickly make my way south, through the endless rows of graves, kicking up the soft earth under my feet, as I cut through a group of oak trees. I stop behind a large crumbling tombstone, slightly leaning towards one side and hide in its shadow at a save distance from the funeral. I can't hear what they're saying, but I can see them and it gives me a creepy feeling. It's amazing how many people showed up. Sure, I had expected some, but not that many. Must have done something right in my life. I scan the crowd of familiar faces for a special person, the person I would give my life for. She is the reason I came here, she's the reason I'm in all this mess. 

There's my mom, looking like she's about to have a nervous break down. Man, I wish I wouldn't have to put her through this but I'm sure Matt and Danny will take care of her…And there she is, holding onto Sherry. Can't believe Sherry came all the way from California, just to be here today. I shift my gaze back at Claire as Chris suddenly walks up to her, pulling her into his arms. She's crying, isn't she? God, Claire, I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, but I had no choice. I …

„Takin' a leak, huh?"

Great, just what I need. My own personal gorilla, how I dubbed him, being a smart ass. As I turn around, I'm looking straight at Darryl, towering over me, his arms firmly crossed over his huge chest. I never considered myself short, but compared to him, I feel like a midget. He's at least six or seven inches taller than me and twice as broad, endowed with extremely well defined muscles. A black Arnold Schwarzenegger, if you will. My guess is, that the additional body mass is nature's way of compensating for what he's lacking in the brain's department. No wonder they're only giving him easy jobs, like …shooting people.

"I shake well. Got a problem with that?"

He cocks his eyebrows, behind the dark shades, playing it cool.

"You know the boss don't like it when you're breaking the rules." He says in a calm voice, his jaw constantly in motion, chewing on that nasty cinnamon gum.

"I ain't breaking shit. Or do you see me talking to anyone?"

He nods towards the funeral.

"No contact what so ever is what he said."

"I know what he said." 

"Why ya  makin' it so hard on yourself? You ain't gonna see 'em again. Sooner you get used to it, the better."

I never thought Darryl would be capable of showing any sign of emotion or understanding for that matter. Guess I was wrong.

"What if I don't wanna get used to it?" I challenge him.

"It's not like you have a choice." 

Of course he's right. I no longer have a choice, for I already made it. But was it the right choice? That's the question that's been bugging me ever since that day that I, Leon S. Kennedy, 'died'.

I had an odd mixture of feelings replacing each other in rapid succession, as I closed the door to the STARS office behind me. There was excitement and happiness, anxiety and a little bit paranoia, some sadness and most of all, guilt. I knew I shouldn't have asked Chris this one particular question, but it had been lying heavily upon my heart for quiet some time now and I just had to put myself at ease about it. Then again, there were a few things I maybe _should_ have told him, but I knew it was better not to. For the time being, I decided it was best to return to what I had felt most of the day: excitement and happiness. It wasn't too hard either; after all I was about to meet Claire and expected some really good news. Just thinking about seeing her made me smile as I walked down the corridor towards the stairs, the only sound being my own footsteps reverberating off the thick walls and high ceilings. Unlike the first two floors, the third floor was hardly ever busy and sometimes I envied Chris for the peace and quiet they had up here compared to where I was working when I wasn't out on patrol. 

I adjusted my new bulletproof vest for the tenth time today. I had only gotten it yesterday, but hated it already. It was quiet a bit heavier than the old one, thicker too, not to mention that you would sweat like a mother fucker in it, especially in this kind of weather and apparently the temperature was still going to rise within the next few days. Not exactly something to be looking forward to. I couldn't wait to get this thing off. For a brief moment I thought about stopping by the locker room and losing it right now, but decided against it. I didn't wanna make Claire wait longer than necessary. Besides, I could hardly wait to see her. 

Half way down the first flight of stairs, I could already hear the mixture of loud voices and ringing phones drifting up from the entrance hall. It sounded like a madhouse from up here. So, not much had changed since this morning. Boy was I glad to get out of here. I love my job, but some days are just too much, even for the most dedicated cop and today was one of those days. From the minute I arrived to start my shift, things went crazy. Chief was tripping over a missing child, a five-year-old girl who got lost in the woods the night before and sent all of us out there, yelling we'd better find her soon. Easier said than done. The forest stretches out over fifteen or twenty miles around the city, dense foliage and sharp rock formations make some parts completely inaccessible and even with dogs it was impossible to cover enough ground. After a few hours of unsuccessfully combing through the woods, Chief finally decided to call in the STARS bravo team and ordered half of us back. Probably cause he realised that everyday-crime wouldn't wait just because the entire police force was playing hide and seek. I was still hoping they'd find the little girl alive and well, but had a very bad feeling that eventually she'd turn up dead, just like that boy Tyron. Due to the shortage of officers doing their regular patrols our work had doubled in no time and by noon my partner Ramirez was so stressed out that I could barely keep him from beating up on some asshole, who had decided that his wife's cooking would improve if he'd just slap her across the room hard enough. Coming to think of it, maybe I should have just 'accidentally' left the room when Ramirez had pinned that scumbag to the wall, instead of pulling him away. And on top of all that, Bernice had called again. This time one of her twenty something cats was missing and she swore it had been stolen. Ramirez was so pissed off that he said he'd strangle the old witch with his own bare hands if it turned out to be bullshit again. Like Ramirez, most people in town thought she was crazy or creepy, because she lived with her cats in an old house near the woods, about three miles out of town and would hardly ever leave it. Some people said she was performing evil rituals and putting spells on everyone who came near her. Needless to say she wasn't very well liked. In my opinion she was just a very eccentric, very lonely old lady, with a strong superstition, in need of somebody she could talk to. I didn't mind going up there every once in a while. As a matter of fact, whenever I had some time to spare on my tour, I'd stop by to see how she was doing and after getting to know her a little better, I found out that she was completely harmless and actually kinda nice. Although I had to admit that she did creep me out sometimes, with her weird prophecies. Like today, when I handed her the cat, I had found trapped in a racoon- hole behind her house. She suddenly grabbed me, looked straight into my eyes and said '_I know what you are scared of. It's the dark shadow that keeps following you and it's growing again. But do not worry. You are a good spirit Leon and you made the right choice. Don't be sad either. They will miss you, but they will be save._' It still sent a chill down my spine, thinking about it. There was another reason why I frequently visited her: her stories. She kept telling everybody who was willing to listen about how there were evil spirits haunting the woods and demons living in a shack deep in the forest, hiding from the sunlight during daytime and if you listened closely, you could hear them cry. Of course nobody believed her. Nobody except… me. Now I didn't believe in good and evil spirits, or demons or other supernatural things for that matter, but I knew there was _something_ out there in those woods and if my guess turned out to be right, it sure wasn't good.

As I was about to step into the entrance hall, I realised I was brushing my hair back again. Apparently I always did that when I was thinking hard about something. Never noticed it until Claire pointed it out to me one day. Yeah, I should probably stop worrying and start enjoying the day. I would pick up Claire at the hospital, maybe take her out some place nice tonight to celebrate the good news and re-lax. 

The hall was crowded with people shouting and complaining, waiting impatiently for somebody to take care of them. It was hard to get to the reception desk without somebody stopping me every other second, saying they had a 'quick question' or yelling how they'd been waiting for 'hours'. I wished I wouldn't be in my uniform anymore or at least had a big sign across my chest saying 'Off duty. Complain elsewhere.' 

When I finally made it to the counter, I saw Lopez hunched over a stack of files, deliberately ignoring the ringing phone next to him. 

"Hey Mike. Having a busy day?" I said, grinning gloatingly as I leaned lazily against the counter. He looked up at me with a no-shit-expression on his face.

"And the good part is, it's only just begun for me." He said.

"I already had my fare share of fun today…Do me a favour, scratch me off the board. I'm outta here."

Mike checked his watched, then raised his eyebrows as he looked at me.

"Does the Chief know you're headed out early?"

"No." I answered, "But Chris promised to back me up."

"God, it's gotta be good to have friends in higher places."  Grinning he turned towards the duty board, erasing my name.

"What's the hurry anyway?" Mike asked on his way back, still ignoring the phone.

I smiled at him, all thoughts about missing people and scary forest-dwellers forgotten.

 "I'm about to find out the sex of the baby."

He smirked, producing a crumbled bill from one of his pockets and waved it in front my face.

"I bet you ten bucks it's a girl."

I stretched my open hand over the counter, laughing.

"You might as well just hand that bill over right now, cause it's a boy, no doubt about it."

Mike quickly pulled his hand back, tucking the bill under a pencil case on his desk.

"Yeah right, that's what I said every time my wife got pregnant and look at me now…four girls."

I offered him a semi sympathetic smile, then reached over the counter and snatched the bill from his desk. Easiest ten bucks I ever made.

"Keep trying, buddy." I tried to comfort him.

"No thanks. Five women bitching and blocking the bathroom in the morning is about all I can handle."

Maybe I should add that to my things-to-do-list, 'Show Mike how it's done', I thought bemused as I left the police station through the main entrance. I already had a few things on my list, like taking Claire to my uncle's beach house for the weekend, spend some time alone with her while we still could and just recently I had added the intention to do Chris a little favour. He wasn't a bad Basketball player, actually he'd become quiet a challenge lately, but let's face it, nineteen out of twenty times he just couldn't beat me and I knew it bugged the hell out of him. So today, I would let him win, entirely unintentional of course.

Only two steps away from my car, I reached for the car keys in my pocket, only to find that they were gone. Shit! I could have sworn I had put them in my pocket before entering the STARS office. Slightly annoyed, I began to check every pocket in my uniform and came up empty handed. Great job Kennedy, I thought, leave half an hour early and then spend it on searching for your damn keys.

"Missing something?"

I was startled when I suddenly heard Chris yelling across the parking lot. I looked up to the third floor window, where he was leaning onto the windowsill, grinning.

"I can't find my damn keys!" I answered, not even trying to hide my annoyance.

Chris stuck out his hand waving something at me. By the looks of it, it was my keys. I was relieved that they had surfaced, but not exactly excited about having to go back through the crowded entrance hall. Half way down the driveway, I stopped. I should be damned if I was gonna climb all the way up to the third floor again.

"You know what, just toss 'em" I shouted at Chris, carefully shielding my eyes against the bright early afternoon sun, standing high in the sky above the PD building. I stretched out my arms as Chris gave me the 'okay' sign impatiently waiting for him to drop my keys.

"Leon! Leon, over here!"

I jerked my head around in surprise and a second later I heard my keys hit the asphalt with a low clank. Claire was standing in front of the main entrance, smiling brightly and waving her hand at me.

"Claire? What are you doing here?" I yelled at her as a squad car passed me on the way to the empty parking space in front of me. From the corner of my eye I could see it was McKinley and Johnson returning from their last tour of the day.

"I came to pick you up." It was kinda hard to hear what she said over the engine noise while I crouched down to scoop up my keys.

"Didn't I tell you to wait for me at the hospital? Why you're always ignoring what I say?" I was semi serious when I asked her, knowing that it would have little to no effect. When had she ever listened to me? But looking at her with that innocent smile on her face, bouncing a plastic bag against her knees, I just couldn't be mad at her. Hell, I could never be mad at her, even when I tried real hard.

"Well, I thought you wanted to hear the good news as soon as possible." She said.

"I do, but you shouldn't be walking around all over town, carrying heavy bags in your condition." 

By the way she knitted her brows, I could tell she was gonna scold me again. She didn't like when I told her to take it easy, but to me it was common sense that I would take care of things like carrying stuff while all she had to do was, well, being pregnant I guessed. It made me shudder, knowing that she had walked all the way from the hospital. There was a reason why I had offered to pick her up. It simply wasn't save and I was sincerely worried about her. Why couldn't she understand that? I saw her squint at something for a moment, before I heard an unfamiliar voice behind me.

"Is this the guy?"

Then another voice, deeper.

"That's him."

I didn't pay much attention to it, since Claire was about to start up our conversation again.

"You're making it sound like I was…" I never got to hear the end of it.

"It's time to pay, sucker!" The deep voice shouted from behind and there was a click, the sound a shotgun makes when you pump another round into the chamber. My heart skipped a beat. Was he talking to me? I spun around, instinctively reaching for the gun strapped to my belt and I was staring directly into the barrel of a Remington M1100, incapable of moving, like a rabbit staring into the headlights of an oncoming car. Suddenly everything happened incredibly fast. A woman screaming somewhere to my right, the dark mask of a face in front of me grinning like a madman, a bright light and BOOM! It was like Mike Tyson hit me in the chest with his hardest fucking uppercut ever, knocking the wind out of me. I was thrown backwards by the blow and for a split second the ground beneath my feet disappeared before I slid across a smooth surface and my back impacted with something hard, a sharp pain in my right elbow, the sound of shattering glass, more shouting and screaming. What the hell just happened? Everything around me was a blur, so surreal, moving in slow motion as I tried to grasp what was going on. It was hard to breath and then …there was pain, very real. I clasped at my throbbing chest and something wet and sticky forced its way through my fingers. Blood! Still dizzy from the lack of oxygen I slid of the hood, struggling to my feet, trying to keep my balance. The blood felt surprisingly warm, considering… that it was fake. Shocked and fascinated at the same time, I pressed a little harder against the bulletproof vest and more of the thick crimson liquid came spurting out, soaking the front of my uniform. It looked so …real. There was another shot, then a quick pain in my thigh, like a bee-sting and almost instantly I felt my legs go numb, my knees gave and before I hit the ground, I was out.

A/N 

Author: * shocked * WHAT?! You're gonna stop right there?

Leon: Yup. * evil grin * I'm kinda hungry.

Author: You GOTTA be kidding me! Now? Now that everything's about to be revealed? You can't do that! They have a right to know how the story ends!

Leon: * gets up * And I have a right to get something to eat… So you'll excuse me. * walks out *

Author: * shakes head * I knew it was a mistake to let HIM tell the story. But do not worry. We're almost there and as soon as he gets back, he'll finish it. * mumbles to herself * I'll make sure he will…

Next Chapter: The Victim's Story (part 2)

We still don't know who 'killed' Leon or why, unless you can guess it, but the next chapter will be the last one. The one that reveals it all…


	5. The Victim's Story part 2

A/N 

Author: * sarcastically * Oh look who decided to shine upon us with his presents. * yells * It's about time! 

Leon: * smiles innocently * Why? Did you miss me?.

Author: * growls * Actually, I wanted to show you something. * points at reviews * Look! They still don't know what happened. I'd say we did a pretty good job here. Hehehe…

Leon: * nods * You have to admit though, it's a tough question. BUT, **Frenchy**, you pretty soon figured out I was hiding something, gotta give you credit for that. * gives her the thumbs up * **1234,** Steve, huh? * laughes * That was a good one. But had I known back then that he …

Author: * slaps her hand over his mouth* Shhhh! Don't spoil it! What he means is, it's a different story.

Leon: * struggles free * And Wesker… * frowns * I guess you could say I still have a bone to pick with that guy. But that too is another story. 

Author: **ForevR LosT**, glad you liked it so far. It'll definitely be the end of THIS story, but don't worry, the legend continues… * turns to Leon * So, your highness, are you gonna continue now or what?

Leon: Sure… So, where was I ? Right. I woke up that morning at 5 a.m., all excited about…

Author: * smacks him *

Leon: … yadda yadda yadda…and I was shot in the parking lot and then…

The Victim's Story (part 2)

Darkness. Complete and eternal blackness surrounding me. Pain. Dull, but getting worse…Voices. Distant and unfamiliar, but definitely there.

"Easy…Try to breathe slowly…in and out…"

I followed the instruction of the voices echoing through my pounding head and the pain slowly subsided.

"There you go."

A steady vibration going through my body. I was moving.

"Is he alright?"

 I remembered this voice, not a pleasant memory though.

"A few cuts…couple of bruised ribs. No big deal."

The voices became clearer as I slowly regained my consciousness. I opened my eyes, wincing when an incredibly bright light blinded me before two faces, looking down at me wobbled into view. There were some sort of cabinets high on the wall to my left, rattling, shaking rhythmically. An ambulance. I was in an ambulance. Shit, how did I get here? The screaming siren jerked me fully awake, adding to my headache.

"Welcome back Leon." 

I carefully rolled my head to the right and I wasn't surprised to see a familiar face greeting me with a faint grin. 

"I hope you don't mind us stunning you, but we had to make sure you'd stay down."

I watched the man in his expensive black suit lower onto a small bench bolted to the wall of the ambulance. He casually propped his arms onto his thighs, interlocking his fingers as he spoke again in this calm, totally indifferent tone.

"That was quiet some stunt back there. I'm impressed."

I ripped the oxygen mask off my face.

"I didn't do it on purpose." I snapped at him, my voice raspy, mouth dry. He chuckled at my response while I looked him up and down for a minute. Same emotionless dark eyes, same clean haircut even the same damn suit. It was definitely him. The agent who had approached me for the first time right after the Raccoon City disaster. Back then I had refused to take his offer, not wanting to sell myself out. This time however…

"Why today?" I demanded to know.

He shrugged.

"Today is as good as any other day…I figured, the sooner, the better."

Maybe better for him, but not for me. There were still too many things I had wanted to take care of. Yesterday, when they had contacted me for the last time, giving me the prepared vest, they said it would happen sometime within the next few weeks. They had refused to tell me the exact date or place, arguing that, the less I knew about it, the more realistic it would be, but somehow I had expected them to wait a little longer. I knew it was my own fault that I had assumed they would give me more time, but I projected my anger onto him never the less. Today of all days. 

"And why right in front of the police station?"

"Witnesses." He said, as untouched as ever. I hated to admit it, but he had a good point. No cop would doubt I was dead after half the police force had seen me being gunned down right before their eyes. However, Claire had been there too and this was not part of the plan. It was bad enough that I had to lie to her, make her believe I was dead and leave her alone with the responsibility for a baby, but damn it, she didn't have to see it! 

"My girlfriend was there too! Did you know that, huh?" It was more of an accusation than an actual question.

"That's even better." He said, a tiny smile tucked at the corner of his lips "Now she won't doubt it either…Perfect."  

I couldn't believe how cold he was. I sat up, ignoring the stabbing pain in my chest.

"You were supposed to protect her, not give her a fucking heart attack!" I yelled at him. "If _that's_ how it's gonna be, then I want out!"

"You can't back out and you know it." 

He still didn't move and it irritated me that he showed no emotion, completely in control like he was sitting at a coffee table, talking about the weather.

"Oh I can't? Well watch me!" I struggled to get up, ready to kick open the door and jump out of the moving car if I had to. What the hell was I thinking when I had accepted his deal? I had been convinced it was the right thing to do, but now, I wasn't so sure anymore and I began to regret it deeply. Before I could get on my feet, the two fake paramedics held me back, pushing me down onto the stretcher.

"Don't be stupid Leon." The agent threatened. "I could shoot you right here, right now and I wouldn't even have to worry about it. You're already dead, remember?" He paused for me to think about it, and then continued in that same monotonous voice. "Now…let me make this clear to you one more time. From now on, you will follow _our_ rules, no questions asked…Understood?" He narrowed his eyebrows, staring at me intensely. I grinned, playing it cool.

"You can't just shoot me. You _need_ me." Locking my arms I held his stare. It was like a poker game. Both of us held a pretty good hand, but neither one knew exactly who would win in the end. The fact that he'd asked me, almost begged me to work for them was the ace up my sleeve and after the stakes were high enough I could put it on the table anytime I wanted. I saw him falter for a second, then the mask returned and with a grim expression, he leaned closer towards me.

"I don't _need_ you. I can replace you any time."

He was bluffing. Of course they needed me, for a simple reason: I knew things they didn't, I had seen things in Raccoon City, they hadn't and I had fought against Umbrella and their creations several times and survived…and their agents …hadn't. 

"But you can't replace your girl friend's life…or that of your son, for that matter…Don't _ever_ forget that."

And _this_, was his ace. It was a tie, but the game wouldn't be over for a while. I felt myself loosing the poker face and if I didn't want to loose this match entirely, I had to bring myself back into the game.

"If anything happens to Claire, or the baby…" I whipped out my Desert Eagle and stuck it in his face to show him I was serious. "I swear, I will kill you… and I won't even have to worry about it, cause, like you said, I'm already dead."  

Instead of backing away or at least showing some respect, he smirked at me, reached around his back and held out a clip, making sure I could see it clearly.

"Did you honestly believe I would let you keep a loaded weapon?" He asked.

I gritted my teeth. Stupid mistake. Of course he would take the bullets, he didn't trust me and I didn't trust him. I lowered the weapon, frowning.

"Don't worry. You'll get it back….Later."

Before I could say anything, there was a beeping sound, coming from the agents suit. He produced a radio from his pocket and pushed the button, never taking his eyes off me. The radio crackled with static.

"We're at the save spot now and sunk the car …Repeat…car is gone…Over." 

"Good. Stay at the rendezvous point until I give you an all clear. Understood? Over." The agent ordered, still watching me closely.

"Sure boss….Over and out." The radio died and he put it away before tilting his head towards the front of the ambulance.

"How long until we reach the hospital?"

"'Bout a minute." The driver shouted back over the noise of the sirens. I watched the agent rise from the bench, holding onto the wall as the ambulance took another sharp turn. He smiled and tucked the clip into his pants, covering it up with his suit jacket, then patted me on the shoulder.

"You still have a lot to learn…my friend." He said before he turned around and headed for the front seat.

"Just so you know…" I said and he stopped in his tracks. "…I'm _not_ your friend."

The agent craned his head, looking back at me over his shoulder.

"Your choice. But it will be a lot easier for you if you cooperate." He nodded towards the two paramedics sitting quietly against the back door.

"Get him ready." 

Then he disappeared into the front cabin. One of the paramedics filled a syringe, the other one pushed me back onto the stretcher and before I could protest, I was drugged for the second time today.

I had a dream, a dream about Claire and the baby. They were at a playground outside our apartment, laughing and chasing each other and I was watching them from our terrace on the fourth floor. The sun was warm and bright, a beautiful summer day. They stopped to look up, waving at me, smiling. I waved back. Suddenly, a huge cloud swallowed the sun, it got colder and darker and I saw something leaping out from the trees behind Claire. _'Claire, behind you_!' I yelled at her, but they didn't move, just stood there, smiling at me, waving. As I looked closer I saw it was a Cerberus, a zombie dog, it's eyes glowing red, it's sharp teeth showing, through the rotten skin around it's saliva dripping muzzle and it began to circle around the baby, always watching me. '_You know what this means_' the dog said '_the dark shadow is back_.'…'_and it's following you, Leon'_ this time it wasn't the dog speaking, it was…a Hunter and it was right behind Claire! It's dark green reptilian bulk leaning over her, claws raised high into the sky, ready to attack. I panicked. I had to get down and help them. I turned around and there was a huge figure blocking the door. A tyrant, grinning its lipless grin, the exposed heart beating louder and faster, taking up the rhythm of my own heart. It was walking towards me, slowly, talons scraping along the wall, tearing it apart. '_It's growing, Leon, can't you see?_' it said, coming closer and closer. I wanted to back away, but I knew I couldn't, I had to help Claire and the baby and I leaped at the Tyrant, using all my strength to pushed past it and I began to run. I ran and ran, but I didn't seem to get anywhere and when I finally reached the playground…it was too late. They were both dead, ripped apart, nothing left but blood and guts and as I was about to start crying I heard somebody laughing behind my back. I spun around and there was the agent in his black suit, leaning against the wall, waving a piece of paper at me. '_You could have saved them, Leon._' He said smiling _'you know you could have saved them._'

                I jerked up, shaking my head, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Expecting to be in my bed with Claire lying next to me sound asleep, I subconsciously did what I always did when I had had a bad dream, what I had done almost every night for the past three weeks; I reached for Claire, ready to scoot over to her side and snuggle up to her warm, soft body. I felt nothing but cool, thin air. For the first time in almost two years I was alone, alone with my fears and there was nobody to comfort me.

 It was quiet, too quiet to be comfortable, the only sound being my gasping breaths slowly returning to a normal pace. I wiped the cold sweat of my face, dazed and confused, images of my recent nightmare still floating around in my head. At least the headache was gone. There was a faint stench of chemicals biting at my nostrils, something like…formaldehyde? Shocked, I let my eyes travel around the dimly lit room. There was a row of plastic chairs and a glass cabinet with medical supplies to my right and the wall on my left consisted almost entirely of thick steel compartments. Cooling compartments! I was in a goddamn mortuary! Looking down I saw I was sitting on a steel table, covered with a white sheet, stained with fake blood. Sick bastards. I knew I was supposed to be dead, but did they have to play this act all the way through? Disgusted I pulled the sheet away and swung my legs over the edge of the table, but had to realise that I was still too drowsy to get up. Now what should I do? I didn't have to wait long, before the double doors swung open and my new 'friend' came rushing in, his dress shoes clicking on the grey linoleum floor, tearing through the threatening silence.

"Oh good. You're awake." He said, flicking on the bright neon lights above, before he set a black backpack onto one of the plastic chairs and lowered himself next to it, facing me.

"This is sick." I said, gesturing around the room. 

"It's nothing permanent."

He grinned. I had the impression he was enjoying this game a little too much. 

"There's a shower in the back, I believe, if you wanna clean up."

I did, badly. I was still in my soaked uniform, covered in dried blood and I felt cold and sticky and…dead. He tossed a bundle of clothes onto the table next to me. A pale green male nurse outfit, complete with a mask and rubber gloves and a pair of white sneakers. Not my wardrobe of choice, but I guessed it was all part of the plan.

"We'll get you out of here after dark, when everything's calmed down a little." He said, leaning back into the chair. I had no idea how long I had been out or what time it was right now. Probably late afternoon. There wasn't a single window in the big room, making it hard to take a good guess. 

"In a couple of hours, I'll send somebody to take care of your…looks." He said and shifted in the seat, then opened the backpack and produced a plane paper folder. 

"In the mean time, I got you something to read." 

He handed me the folder and I already had a pretty good idea what it held. I looked down at the folder in my hands for a minute before I dared to open it.

"Read it carefully and memorise it. When you leave the hospital tonight, you have to know every little detail."

There was a picture of a young man on the first page. Short dark hair, brown eyes, glasses…I took the picture and tossed it into his lap.

"_This_ is what I'm supposed to look like?" I snapped. 

"You wouldn't believe what a new hairstyle and some contacts can do."

He said as he picked up the picture and looked at it with a smile. 

I flipped through the pages. It had everything, birth-certificate, drivers license, school records, college degree, medical records…and yet, this person was completely made up along with all the details about his personal life and the character trades he was supposed to have. I scanned them briefly, knowing I would have more than enough time to study it later. Born in Boston, no brothers or sisters, MA in … Geology? Christ. There was nothing more boring than rocks. The list went on and on and it only got worse.

"Oh you gotta be shitting me!…I'm a fucking dork!"

He laughed at me.

"Well, Leon. Maybe next time I'll let you have a little more say in it." He leaned forward, still grinning at me wickedly. "And maybe…if you behave…we'll make you a little more attractive for the ladies." He shrugged. "Blond hair, blue eyes…a nice car, some money…a banker maybe or a stock broker…what do you say?"

"I say …fuck you!" and showed him the finger. This was his revenge wasn't it? So I was gonna be a geek, the kid that's been pounded on throughout his entire highschool career, the guy who had never been invited to any college parties, a loser, who'd never had a date in his entire life. Fine with me, it was just an act anyway and I wasn't planing on dating anyone anytime soon. I already had a girlfriend. I mean, I used to have one, but that didn't change my feelings for her. I still loved her more than my own life.

"Back to business." The agent said, suddenly all serious again. "All the files you have requested are in this backpack. Including a new one. A five-year-old girl who disappeared late yesterday afternoon. Her name is Lisa …something. We believe she could be the next victim, so you might wanna look into it."

Lisa! She was the girl we had been searching for this morning. God, was this nightmare never gonna stop? As much as I hated my current situation, but somebody had to do something and that somebody was…me. 

"Any more questions?" The agent asked.

I nodded. He sighed, knowing I was gonna bring it up again, but I wanted to make sure they'd stick to the deal just as much as I did.

"Life Insurance?" I said.

"As agreed upon, 250 000 for her, as soon as you are officially buried and brought us the first useable results and 250 000 for the kid, due when he turns 18 or graduates high school. Whichever one comes first. …You're a tough negotiator, Leon. I like that." 

I looked down at the folder in my hands, thinking about what he had just said.

"It's a lot of money. He'll be able to pick a nice college, get a good education. Doesn't that make you happy?"

A lot of money my ass. It was peanuts for them, not even worth mentioning and no matter how much money I had squeezed out of them, I was still on the shitty end of the deal. No matter which college my son would choose, I wouldn't be able to be there to tell him how proud I was of him, that was what hurt the most and no money in the world could ever replace this feeling. At least it should give them a good start, it was all I could do for them. I looked back up at him.

"What about the second part of the deal. Did you take care of that as well?"

"Leon, don't worry. I got six of my best agents watching her, day and night. Nobody's gonna get near her. Trust me…and the more info you are able to obtain, the easier it'll become for us to protect them."

He was right, I had to trust him at least with this. They had an enormous number of trained agents at their hands, the latest surveillance equipment, weapons anything you could ask for and unlike me, they were able to protect her 24/7. I hated to put Claire's fate into their hands, but if it was true what he had told me, if Umbrella was on the role again, then I had no other choice and at this moment, I had no reason not to believe him. I had seen then files. Hell, I had even seen one of the bodies myself. It was always the same pattern. A young boy or girl, preferable one who wouldn't be missed for a while, like a kid who'd ran away from home a couple of times before or was living on the streets anyway, would disappear. Then a few weeks later, their mutilated corpses were found somewhere in a remote area without a trace that could lead to the murderer. The scars, the lack of evidence, it was undoubtedly done by a professional with enough knowledge and people to cover him up. That and the enormous amount of money which had been transferred from a Swiss bank account to a small pharmaceutical company established only a few weeks before the first victim, Tyron Banks, was found in the woods, were enough to get me alarmed. But what had set me off was the fact that, even though Umbrella had officially been destroyed, they had never been able to locate some of their financiers, including Lord Spencer's grandson who had apparently gone missing on a trip to Asia a few years ago. Conveniently right after he had graduated medical school in Oxford at the age of 19 and had inherited most of his grandfather's fortune. I should be damned if it was a coincidence. One thing was clear though, if Umbrella was secretly working on rebuilding their empire, than they would make sure nobody could interfere with their plans this time. There were only a few people who knew enough about Umbrella to become a threat to them and the easiest way to get rid of this threat was to kill everyone who knew Umbrella's secrets. 

Unfortunately my girl friend, my pregnant girl friend, Claire was among those people. Unlike the others, she wasn't a trained law enforcer, she was a civilian, a college student and she wasn't 'famous' either. The STARS were well known, they had been all over the newspapers, celebrated 'heroes' after we brought down Umbrella. But Claire and I had tried to stay out of it, we weren't even listed witnesses when the trials started. We thought it was better this way, it would give us the chance to live a 'normal' life. Nobody had any idea we were involved, nobody except…Umbrella. Claire was the easiest target. If she was to disappear, have an 'accident', nobody would notice. Civilians get killed every day. It's sad, but life is full of tragedies and at some point most people stop caring. Not only that, she also had a special value for Umbrella. If they could get her, they could control their worst enemy, her brother Chris. So what was I supposed to do? Sit and wait for them to destroy everything I had, everything that meant something to me? I couldn't do that, could I? 

I began to argue with myself again. Why didn't you tell the Chief about this? Because Umbrella had bought into the RPD, who says they hadn't already bought into our Police Department as well? Why didn't you tell Chris? He's you're best friend, he's trust worthy, nobody could bribe him. Because Umbrella became lot more careful and if we wanted this to work, it had to be done secretly. Then why of all people did the agent choose you? Because I'm just a regular cop and it's a lot easier to let a cop disappear without raising suspicion, than letting one of the famous STARS members disappear…But this wasn't the real reason, was it? Suddenly, it all made sense to me. I could see it clearly now. The agency had studied all of us closely, probably watched us all this time, waiting for the right moment. They knew my weak spot. I had a family that I cared more about than anything else in this world and they knew I wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice myself for them. Especially now that Claire was pregnant and I was about to be a father. Chris, loved his sister, too, but he would have never accepted their deal. He would have fought Umbrella alone if he had to, a risk they knew I would never be willing to take. But knowing that Claire was in danger, I surely would be more dedicated to the job than anyone else and I had the knowledge about Umbrella the agency needed. It was a simple equation: you need someone to do the dirty work for you, someone who had a good chance of surviving and getting you good results to work with. There are only a handful of people qualified enough, but not all of them are perfect, so you factor out the ones, who don't have a good reason to dedicate themselves to the job the way you want them to. Now you scratch out the ones who don't have enough to lose in case they screw up and last but not least, you find the one who is most likely to accept your deal and that leaves you with…Leon S. Kennedy. Shit! They had fucked me over from the_ very beginning_!

The agent was studying me silently, maybe trying to figure out what I was thinking. It looked like all the cards were on the table now. I had a full house, but he, he had a royal flush. Game over.

"Well…" He said, slowly rising to his feet. "I'll leave you alone now." 

As he was about to open the door, he turned around, with the biggest damn smile on his face I've ever seen in my life.

"Good luck." He said and disappeared.

He might as well have said  'You're fucked now. Royally fucked.'

It must have been hours I spent alone in the mortuary, at least it felt like hours. Too much time to be thinking about Claire and the life I no longer had. I could already recite all the files backwards, but I fooled myself into believing it would distract me to go over them again. My eyes felt dry and irritated as I flipped through the Banks file again. I wasn't used to contacts and the thought of having to poke a finger into my eyes every morning was kinda scary, too. I pulled my legs up, hugging them against the cool air that was biting it's way through the thin fabric of the nurse uniform. Like I'd done a million times today, I wished Claire would be here. I wished I could pull her into my arms and hold her, like nothing in the world could ever bring us apart, but it wasn't going to happen…ever again.

"You ready?" The deep voice tore me out of my thoughts. "Boss said to pick you up."

There was a big, no huge guy standing in the door, that lead from the doctor's office back into the mortuary. "Obviously he forgot to tell you there's no sun inside." I said, getting up.

A little embarrassed he removed the dark shades and tucked them into the breast pocket of his white shirt. I wasn't surprised to see the straps of a chest holster and the butt of a matching gun poke out from under his black suit jacket. What was with those suits anyway? It was like a bad copy of MIB, first Tommy Lee Jones and now the buffed version of Will Smith. With the shades off, I immediately recognised the dark face, although I had only seen it clearly for a few seconds. He was the guy I owed my bruised ribs to, the guy who had shot me.  

I shovelled the folders into the backpack, ignoring him as well as I managed.

"I'm Darryl. I'll be your…bodyguard for a while." He said.

I scooped the Desert Eagle off the table and tucked it into my pants, still not looking at Darryl.

"Does that already include shooting me if I bark up the wrong tree or is that a special bonus you gotta earn first?"  I wanted him to know that I wouldn't buy his I'm-your-new-best-buddy story.

Carefully I reached into my pocket again to make sure the badge and Claire's picture were still there. They had told me a hundred times I had to leave the uniform and everything in it behind, but I had secretly taken those two things anyway. They could steal my future, but my past belonged to me and if the agent didn't like it, well screw him.

"Boss was right. You _are_ a funny guy." Darryl said, but he wasn't laughing. "Now, let's go."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. Obviously he couldn't taste sarcasm if you shoved it down his throat with a plunger. Great.

"Yeah." I said. "Let's."

We stepped out of the elevator and into the short corridor, leading strait towards the brightly lit entrance hall on the first floor. From the corridor, I couldn't see the front desk, but I could hear the nurse behind the counter talking to somebody. 

"Okay, I'll make an exception…but only this one time and only for a few minutes…She's in room 404. Take the elevator to the forth floor, then make a right. Just down the hall. "

"Thank you very much."

I froze. My heart was racing. I knew this voice, I would recognise it any time, any place. It was Chris. Chris Redfield and he was only a few meters away from me.

"Yes, thank you. We really appreciate this and we promise we'll be back in a few minutes."

And Jill Valentine. I swallowed hard, darting my eyes back and forth between the closed elevator and the exit. What should I do? If they saw me, if they recognised me, it was over.

"What's wrong?" Darryl asked.     

Suddenly another thought forced it's way into my head. This was my chance. My last chance to change everything. I looked at Darryl for a moment, thinking. I could threaten him with my gun. Darryl didn't know it wasn't loaded. Or I could scream bloody murder. If Chris and Jill knew I wasn't dead, the agency would have to let me go, then I would be useless to them. But what about Claire and the baby? Who would protect them? Who would make sure Umbrella didn't hurt them? I weighed my options. _You are a good spirit Leon…_The footsteps were coming closer, they'd be here any moment.

"Nothing." I said, quickly covering my mouth and nose with the mask.

"Lets go, Darryl."

I briskly walked down the corridor, making sure I was always close to the wall and Darryl right beside me. As Chris and Jill turned around the corner, I deliberately stepped onto the shoelace, pulling it open. Tugging at Darryl's sleeve, I pointed at my sneaker then crouched down, pretending to tie it. I took my time, carefully watching Chris and Jill passing us on their way to the elevator. I turned around, following them with my eyes until they stopped in front of the doors and Jill pushed the call button. 

"She'll be alright. Don't worry." Jill said in a soothing voice, rubbing Chris's arm.

"Yeah. I guess…" He sounded distant, broken. 

Now! My inner voice screamed at me as the light above the elevator indicated it was about to arrive. Do it, say something! I jumped up, staring at Chris's back, heart hammering in my chest, the words 'Turn around!' stuck in my throat. Two words that could bring me back to life. Darryl pulled my sleeve_…. And you made the right choice_… I nodded, letting him know I was ready to leave.

Walking towards the exit I looked over my shoulder one last time. The doors to the elevator were closed. _' …and don't be sad either. They will miss you…but they will be save.'_

"Hey, how about _you _go take a leak and give me two more minutes and I promise I'll never ask you for a favour again." I say, hoping Darryl's understanding wasn't a one time thing.

He looks at me for a moment and I give him the puppy eye look, putting all my pain into it to convince him.

"Alright." He says, sighing. "But if you don't show up in two minutes, Imma come and bust your skinny little ass." 

I smile at him as brightly as I manage.

"Thanks… I owe you."

He waves his hand at me in a 'whatever' kind of way before he slowly walks back towards the gates, looking over his shoulder every once in a while to make sure I didn't take off. I turn back to the funeral. Claire is wiping at her face with a paper towel. She is so beautiful, even when she's crying and the need to run my fingers through her soft hair and gently kiss her lips, like I've done so many times, returns stronger than ever. You know that I will never stop loving you Claire, both of you and no matter for how long I will have to serve them, I will always be there to protect you, always. 

Stepping through the cemetery gates, I pull out my shades and look at the setting sun for a moment. So this is it. I'm officially dead and buried. Thinking about it, I realise that now it's up to me to bring down Umbrella…for good this time…and I already know where I am going to start. There is a little shack deep in the woods outside this city and apparently…

A/N 

**The End … for now. **

* The Funeral of Hearts starts playing *

_Love's the funeral of hearts and an oath for cruelty…_

--- Credits ---

Written & directed by

Black-Tiger

Cast:

Claire Redfield – Claire Redfield

Sherry Birkin – Sherry Birkin

Chris Redfield – Chris Redfield

Michael Lopez – some hispanic guy

Leon S. Kennedy – Leon S. Kennedy

McKinley – some white guy

Johnson – some other white guy

Chief Harris – some fat, bearded guy

Jill Valentine – Jill Valentine

Darryl – some big black guy

The agent – Tommy Lee Jones

And others…

_… she, was the sun, shining upon the tomb of your hopes and dreams so frail …_

_… he, was the moon, painting you with its gloves of hope …_

Leon: Hey! * points at screen * Why wasn't I at the top of the cast list?!

Author: Cause it's in order of appearance!

Leon: Oh. Okay.

_… she, was the wind, carrying in, all the troubles and fears, he for years tried to forget…_

_… he, was the fire, restless and wild, and you were like a moth to that flame…_

Author: * sighs * That song just says everything about the story, doesn't it?

Leon: * roles eyes * If you say so.

* music stops, screen gets dark *

Author: * gets up * So. Lets work on the next one, shall we?

Leon: Aren't you forgetting something?

Author: * confused * Huh?… Oh! Yeah, that's right. 

Additional Chapter: Special Features

For me, there's always a story behind 'the story'. So the last chapter is kinda like the 'special features' thing on a DVD, giving you some background on the story plus deleted scenes/ alternative endings stuff like that, in case you're interested. Comments and suggestions are always welcome…^_^

Oh and uhm…never mind him * points at Leon * he just keeps coming back, adding stupid comments. * shrugs * I can't help it. It's my schizophrenic nature… and yeah, I'm so full of shit sometimes…

Leon: Yeah, never mind me cause…I'm not important…* yells * I'm only the main character!… But you're right about being full of shit. 


	6. Special Features

SPECIAL FEATURES

Author: Welcome to the special features chapter! ^_^

Leon: Why you're always making a big deal out of everything?

Author: * annoyed * Because I CAN! Now…

In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm a disguised scriptwriter. I love dialogue, and 'scenes' that would actually work better for a movie, but since it's kinda hard to make a movie without a lot of money, I turned to fiction writing. All you need is a computer and your imagination and some talent for writing…well, that's the hardest part, but I'm working on it. I put a lot of thought and personal experience into my stories, well, I'm trying anyway. I also love details, double meanings, hints and for-shadowing. There will always be something in my stories that, if you read them closely, might hint at either what's going to happen later in the story or in a different story (like I said in my bio, they are all connected somehow). My biggest hope, wish, dream, goal, whatever is that one day I'll be able to write stories you can read over and over again cause you can always find a little something you missed the first time and since I can hardly ever shut up

Leon: *sighs * Yeah, I know.

Author: *angry * Hey! You had your story! Now it's MY turn, so shut up!

Leon * backs away*

So, where was I? Oh yeah,.. since I can hardly ever shut up, I thought I'll give you a little background on this one.

Author's Comments 

How did the story come around?

I was actually working on a different story, that takes place ten years later, when Leon's trying to come clean with the fact that he had to leave Claire and his son and is thinking about telling them the truth. Two thirds through the story, I got stuck. I decided to go back in time, explore the reason why he had to leave them in the first place and Boom! I had a totally new story going on. *sighs * It's always like that…I'm still working on that story though.

POV 

Since the 'sequel' was all Leon's point of view, I had planned on writing this one from Claire's point of view, to have a different perspective on the matter. She wasn't supposed to know that he was still alive, so when I had finished her part, I realised that would be really lame. Somehow it had to be clear that he was still alive, but how? Suddenly I recalled a story I was 'forced' to read a few years ago and ended up liking a lot. 'Rashomon' It's about a guy being killed and three people telling the story: the murderer, the victim's wife, who was a witness and the victim himself. In the end you had three totally different versions of the crime. And there was the solution to my problem…

Leon & Claire 

I have to admit that I'm actually not a fan of pairing the main RE characters with each other. I love to read about it in other people's stories, but wasn't gonna do it in my own stories.

Leon: WHAT?!

Author: You got what you wanted, didn't ya? So calm down.

However, in this story it was somehow inevitable, a given and in the end I got to like the idea. As a matter of fact, I got to like it so much that I've already decided to write a story about how they become a couple. Not sure yet whether it will be Leon's or Claire's POV. * shrugs * Maybe we'll try something entirely different this time…

Claire's Story 

I figured, the worst thing for her would be to lose someone she truly loves. So her version of the story was going to be all emotional. I love to put my characters in bad situations and see what they are going to do…

Leon: Tell me about it.

Author: * grits teeth * Not your turn, got it?!

Leon: * backs off slowly * Ooookay.

_'Never again…'_ That's the personal part. For me the worst thing about somebody dying is that you never get to see this person again, that you will start missing those little things they did and you start regretting taking them for granted.

Chris's Story 

In the beginning he was only supposed to give a different, more objective point of view about the whole matter. But, like so many times, during the course of the story, his character took over and I realised, that he wouldn't just sit around and watch, now would he? If he wouldn't leave Umbrella alone, he wouldn't leave this thing alone and voila, it turned into a suspense kinda thing. So why does he stop in the end? I had to make him stop or the story wouldn't have turned out the way I wanted it to be. I just had to give him a good reason, so I let him shift his priorities to what is most important to him: his sister. Why does it stop where it stops? It's a short story and I had to stop it somewhere. I forced myself to limit it to one single day and that day ended at 23.59, no matter what. Nobody says he didn't go on searching after that, we just don't get to know. Is he ever gonna find out the truth? I didn't plan on letting him find out, but who knows, maybe one day I'll change my mind…

_'I hate funerals…'_ When I was seventeen and attended the funeral of a close friend of mine, who had committed suicide at the age of twenty-one, I decided I hated funerals. For the reasons I put in the story and a few others. I thought I'd have Chris share my opinion and take the chance to have two totally different perspectives on funerals in general.

Leon's Story 

Now, it was clear from the very beginning that he wasn't really dead. Hell, he's my favourite RE character. I couldn't kill him even if I wanted to.

Leon: You better not!

Author: * gives him the evil look * If you don't stop interrupting me, I might just do it after all!

Leon: * pouts * What ever.

It was time to clear it all up and give him a reason for what he did. So, there you go.

One thing I like a lot about him is his sarcasm at the end of RE 2 when Birkin comes back for the tenth time (especially in Claire's scenario. "Just what I felt like. Persistent, aren't you? Well come and get it!"). So I decided to give him a good bucket full of sarcasm and make him a little rebellious to show he didn't exactly volunteer for the job.

Leon: By the way, thanks a lot!

Author: All right, I've had it with you. No more happy life for you! Ha!

Leon: * puppy eye look * Aww come on… please.

Author: * sighs * I'll think about it.

_'The Basketball competition'_ One of my best friends reminds me a lot of Leon, looks wise anyway. He has a passion for Basketball and I love watching him play. So I decided I'd give Leon a little special talent…

The Key 

Yeah I know, it's going on and on about the key… I asked myself if I shouldn't cut it short, but then I realised that the _key_ is actually the key to the story. It's a 'what if…' kinda thing. Ever asked yourself how a single minute could change your whole life? 

_What if_…Leon hadn't left his keys? He would have walked straight to the car, never stopped in the driveway, never met Claire there, never….

_What if_…Leon had decided to go back inside, instead of asking Chris to toss the keys? He would have gone back into the hall, maybe met Claire there, then left with her, then …

So, no key, no story. You see? Plus, it kinda links all of the stories together…

The Baby 

Yeah, it makes it a lot more dramatic, but that's not the main reason. For one, it's part of Leon's motivation to accept the deal and second, it'll play a big role in the story I mentioned earlier. Why a boy and not a girl? That's also somewhat important for the other story, so I figured I'd already set it up in this one.

By the way, two things are 'borrowed' from the 8th season of _Friends_. Those of you who love the show as much as I do, might have noticed. ^_^

Deleted scenes / Alternative endings 

Deleted Scene: The Autopsy

Leon: I liked that one. You should have kept it.

Author: Na, it would have unnecessarily dragged out the story.

Leon: But you're gonna show them, right?

Author: * nods * Of course. 

--- in the morgue ---

"What about the autopsy?" I asked, wondering how they were going to explain that there was no corpse. After all I had been 'murdered' so there would definitely be an autopsy.

"Not you're problem." The agent said. "Just leave it up to us."

"How you're gonna bury me without a corpse, huh?" I pressed on. 

"Well," he said, slightly annoyed as he got up and walked over to the wall of cooling compartments. "If you MUST know." He yanked open one of the compartments. The steel table rolled out easily, clicking into place once it had come out all the way. The body was hidden underneath a white sheet, much like the one I had been covered with when I woke up from my nightmare. The agent threw it back, revealing a corpse with a gaping hole in his chest. I was shocked. It couldn't be… I slid off the autopsy table and walked on shaky legs. I had to see this closer. There was a young man laying on that table, about my age, maybe a couple of years older, roughly the same height and weight. His hair was almost the exact same colour as mine, only longer, reaching all the way down to his shoulders, but if they cut it, it would be perfect. Although his eyes were closed, I was pretty sure they would be blue. What amazed me the most was, that he actually did look a lot like me and it gave me the creeps, big time. However, there was undeniably one distinguishing mark. Subconsciously I touched my shoulder, feeling for the spot where the scare would be. He didn't have one. 

"Now you're wondering how we're gonna get away with it." The agent said, casually propping his arm up onto the compartment door. He was reading my mind. I stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

"The pathologist doesn't know what you look like Leon. He'll see the nametag…" he reached across the dead body and held the tag attached to the corpses toe out to me. I felt the hair on the back of my neck raising as I read it; 'Leon Kennedy'.

 "…and put it in his report. Without a doubt, this guy was shot in the chest with a shotgun." He pointed at the bloody whole, as if it was a city on the map. "And that's what he will write in his report. There is no reason for a DNA analysis. You've already been identified."

He rounded the table, stopping beside me and put his arm around my shoulder. I couldn't stop staring at the corpse. How could they find somebody who looked so much like me? An idea dawned on me and I craned my neck to look at the agent, searching his face for a clue. Had they… I slapped his arm off my shoulder.

"YOU killed him!" I screamed. "You murdered an innocent man just to have a corpse, didn't you?" I grabbed both his shoulders, pushing him backwards until he hit the wall. He obviously hadn't expected me to attack him, however his face remained emotionless, aggravating me even more.

"Calm down, Leon." Not a trace of uneasiness in his voice.

"No! NO!" I slammed him into the wall again, screaming. "You killed him. You son of a bitch killed him!"

I was losing my cool and I knew it wouldn't do me any good, but this was wrong. That man had nothing to do with our deal. He didn't deserve to die, not for me, not because he _looked_ like me! I painfully snapped out of it, as the agent hit me in my already bruised ribs. I didn't see it coming, not until I felt the stabbing pain. Eyes watering, I went down on my knees, clutching my chest. Breathing shallowly I steady myself against the cold floor with my other hand. When I looked up at him, towering over me with locked arms and a wicked grin on his face, I had only one thing on my mind: hatred. I hated him more than ever and I wanted to break this deal off. I wanted to run away, to be with Claire. I wanted her to hold me and tell me this was a dream, just another nightmare. 

"I didn't kill anyone." He said calmly, looking down on me "They found him this morning, somewhere in an alley. He's just a bum, a drug addict, a nobody. BUT… he's perfect. Don't you think?"

I knew it was a rhetorical question and even if it wasn't I didn't want to answer it. How was I supposed to be working for somebody who had no respect for life, no matter what kind of life it had been? The agent went back to the corpse, covering it with the sheet.

"To be honest," He said "He is so perfect, he is the main reason why we had to kill you today. You don't get a lot of chances to find a matching corpse."

I wasn't sure if I should believe they didn't kill anyone, but if I didn't want to feel guilty for the rest of my life, I had to believe it. 

------

Author: You're right, it wasn't a bad scene. But, you weren't supposed to be freaking out like this.

Leon: * shrugs * I couldn't help it. He is such an asshole.

Author: He is SUPPOSED to be an asshole. Don't you get it?

Leon: Hmmm. Maybe if we edit it a little…

Author: I don't know. It doesn't quiet fit in.

Leon: Hey, I got an idea. Why don't you ask them? * turns to readers * What do you think? Should we change it a little and put it back in?

There were a few other scenes I thought I might leave out, then decided against it. Like the one in the entrance hall of the police station, when first Leon and then Claire talk to Mike. But it served its purpose in the end. It's the one minute thing again, how they missed each other by minutes. Among other things. The other one was the dream. That was a hard one, but I didn't wanna go from being drugged to waking up to being drugged to waking up. * shrugs * I don't know.

_Alternative ending_: There are two. One: I thought about simply stopping after Leon finds out the agency used him from the very beginning. Two: First I wanted to have Leon find out that Claire was in the hospital too and have him secretly check on her (without her knowing of course), then somehow changed my mind… If you want an alternative ending, I'm always open for suggestions.

I'm not big on Hollywood the-ugly-girl-gets-the-football star-and –everyone's-happy endings. I like to leave it open somehow, make you think about it. That doesn't mean I don't have stories with happy endings, it's just… life doesn't always have a happy ending and neither do my stories.

Soundtrack 

One of my biggest inspirations is music. (I guess I'm not the only one here, right? ^_^)  I listen to a song and suddenly a scene pops into my head…so here are the songs that helped with this story:

The Lover's Story:

Groove Coverage – Moonlight Shadow

_The last that ever she saw him, carried away by a moonlight shadow_

_He passed on worried and warning…_

_Lost in the riddle last Saturday night, far away on the other side_

_He was caught in the middle of a desperate fight and she couldn't find how to push through_

_The trees that whisper in the evening,…_

_Sing the song of sorrow and grieving,…_

_All she saw was the silhouette of a gun, far away on the other side,_

_He was shot six times by a man on the run…_

Novaspace – Guardian Angel

The Friend's Story 

Wolfsheim – Kein Zurück

The Victim's Story 

HIM – The Funeral of Hearts

Dedications and Thank You's 

This story is dedicated to a friend of mine who went through a year of heaven and hell in Japan with me. She's the one who always believed in me and encouraged me to finally write those damn stories down instead of just talking about doing it! Thanx! ^_^ 

And last but not least. A big big THANX to all of you who reviewed this story. 

* bows down *  You guys are the best! Hope you'll stick around for the next one…

Leon: * yawns * Okay, seriously, this is getting boring. Can we go now?

Author:  Yup. I'm finished. 

Leon: Thank god.

Author: * waves good-bye*  See you all soon!…I hope.

Leon: * grins * Yeah, see you…

Author: Why do you ALWAYS have to have the last word, huh? It's MY goddamn story and I ….

* start arguing again as they walk off into the sunset * 

BACK TO MAIN


End file.
